Dark Silver
by Nasha Rei-Kun
Summary: Cosmic karma, a sick god's game, or even Kaguya's influence. Any of these things he'd take for a reason of why he was born again and not in Hell. Now, with his dark silver eyes, he's to deal with secret organizations, a dark witch, MAGIC, and this girl who looks too much like Rin. Being rewritten and will be renamed Dust in Dark Silver. Officially Canceled. New story is up.
1. Murky Clarity

**This was an idea that I had while trying, and** _ **failing**_ **, to finish the most recent Finale chapters of** _ **This Changeling Life**_ **.**

 **So, I'm sure, even though it's been a while, that you guys know I like Obito as the main character. I also like the RoosterTeeth animated shows, like RvB and RWBY, while I'm waiting to see the new Gen: Lock when it drops.**

 **So! I came up with this story after 5 seasons of RWBY, in the middle of S6.**

 **Obviously, if you've seen the character tags, you know who's going to be in this.**

 **Funny thing: I had a choice between this and Obito has connections to the White Fang…. As a human. I chose this current idea because it helped tie into the plot of the show more easily.**

 **So, in that vein, I welcome you all to Dark Silver.**

 _ **~NRK~**_

" _We welcome you all to this wondrous moment. It's been a great day watching our newest graduates-.!"_

She blocked out the rest of the noise, mind more focused on finding that cadet before all the other sectors could find him. The usual fanfare around these occasions never really meshed well with her.

Passing under another banner, she ignored the words plastered on it that said "Graduating Ceremony". It was weird being back to school, considering she'd graduated years ago. It was honestly no less weird what she _was_ here for, to be honest.

It just went to show what kind of things can happen when life throws some random kid your way.

She looked around, dark brown hair jumping between her glass as purple eyes searched the crowd.

"Come on. Come on." It couldn't be _this_ hard to find some kid with spiky hair.

Walking a bit more, she figured she'd go wait at the exit before she heard exactly what she wanted to hear.

"Obito! I couldn't be more proud! MY Babyyyyyy!"

"Uh-huh Uh-huh Uh-huh Uh-huhUh-huh!"

"Mother, Izuku, calm down. "

Tossing her head to the side, she caught him. Her gaze on him she lurked towards the trio of what she assumed was mother and sons.

A short, round, woman with dark green hair in a long salmon skirt and white shirt, holding a younger green haired child's hand was currently crying a river of tears. Across from those two though, was her target of the afternoon.

"You sure you don't want to be a Huntsman, big brother?"

"... Quite sure, Izuku. I'm not cut out for it."

Spiky black hair, a shock of white over his right side. Peach skin with a slightly mature face.

Last, but not least, were his eyes. A bright silver turned to look her way as she made the walk over to him.

 _ **~DS~**_

Seeing the blue officer garb on her, Obito had to wonder if he'd done something wrong by graduating early.

"Ms. Adel?"

She stopped in front of his family. _His family_. His _mother and little brother_.

16 years of living this life, seven adopted, and it still had him… fixated.

Paying attention to the conversation between his mother and a person he'd at most had a form of acquaintance with, he wondered why she was here.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well, Ochre. I wasn't expecting to see you here," his mother, Inko Midoriya, said, calmer than before as she bounced Izuku, his little brother, in her arms.

"It's fine. I… actually was here to see your son," the police officer said, as they both turned towards him.

He frowned. "Did something happen?"

Ochre shook her head, unkempt hair moving with the motion. "No, no, everything is fine. Thankfully," she said, though she always had to keep herself coordinated when dealing with this kid.

It was less like talking to someone close to a decade her junior and more like speaking to a colleague.

A right confusing feeling, when he acted like he was far too mature for his age.

"It's actually to do with your graduation..." He rose an eyebrow at that.

Wait, was she…

"Yo, sis!" He wasn't expecting it.

"I knew I'd find you if I just looked for the most blue in the room."

He turned to the teenage girl behind Ochre. Short, Dark brown hair, not unlike Ochre, and fair skin. Wearing tight caramel shirt with a belt buckle in the shape of dual cross-hairs and dark brown mid-thigh jean shorts, she strutted behind and then around her elder sibling in her dark leather boots before coming to a stop at Ochre's side. Dark, small, circular glasses sat on her nose, leaving dark-brown eyes to peer at the former-ninja as a gun holster and bullet-belt bounced at her hip.

He could see the twitch of the officer's left eyebrow.

"So, how's my sister doing? Especially when she finds her favorite boy-toy? Gotta say, sis, you may like 'em young but there is a limi-." She ducked the swipe from Ochre and grinned before getting back up.

"Coco… What are you _doing_ here?!" Ochre whispered hotly. This "Coco" seemed to shrug.

"I was walking the city when I saw your car. Wasn't expecting you to come by some high school though, but I guess the boys are nice." She winked at the raven-haired Uchiha, who crossed his arms and found himself raising his eyebrow again.

Coco grinned at the "defiance" to her looks. 'Oh, we got a tough guy. We'll see how tough you are civvie.'

Hand over eyes, elbow in hand, Ochre wondered what she'd done to deserve this. Hand coming down her face, she stared down her sister who froze.

"Coco!" Flinching, the younger Adel turned to the side and looked into the crowd. She searched even harder as she felt the gaze drill into her back.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, the policewoman turned back to Obito.

"To cut this short, I want you to see if you'd like to join the Vale Police Department."

Obito blinked at her, his mouth settling onto a confused frown. Inko looked on, eyes wide, as she stared at Ochre as well.

"You want me to join the police force?" He had to be hearing her wrong.

He, Obito Uchiha, joining the police force would be some sort of sick joke. Considering he'd killed part of the police force from home, this had to be some form of dark karma.

"Yes," she began, fixing her glasses. "I've since made my decision to try and bring you into the fold, ever since the incident from two years ago," she said.

* * *

 _She could barely believe the sight before her. With blood falling down the left side of her face, causing her to close that eye, she might have very well been hallucinating._

 _The boy stood there, shirt ripped and a large cross-shaped sat on his body, as he stared down at the group of yellow-scarf wearing men._

 _She'd never forget that glint of red that slipped past his eyes._

 _That, her eye caught perfectly._

* * *

She blinked twice.

Coco turned around and looked on with a frown.

"I believe that you have the skills and potential necessary to be a part of the police force."

 _ **~DS~**_

He walked down the sidewalk, eyes trained ahead, as he thought about it.

To be fair, he wasn't sure if he shouldn't take the offer for her recommendation into the Vale Police Academy. To also be fair, he didn't really have any "plans" to begin with when it came to schooling. He'd gone through the motions as things went, excelled (if he hadn't he'd be ashamed) and skipped years in both middle school and high school.

The issue was, he simply didn't want to BE anything. He was basically a man in a teens body and had no idea what he wanted with his life. He DIED a villain of the ninja world.

What was there for him, honestly?

"Soooo… where are we going?"

He sighed. Where had this development come from?

Coco Adel walked behind him, eyes looking at him than at their surroundings.

It seemed like she'd decided to disappear on them before Ochre was done talking to him and pop up right as he left his mother and brother at the hotel so Inko could put Izuku down for a nap. He left his blazer with her as well.

He looked back at her, catching her attention, causing her to push up her glasses and smirk at him.

"See something you like?" She looked for any weakness in the brunet but pouted when she came up with nothing. He looked at her with a disinterested expression and turned back towards the sidewalk.

They kept like that for a bit, the monotony of the whole thing making Coco consider that maybe this wasn't worth it before she remembered what her sister said earlier and frown settled on her face.

"Hey, Obito?" The tone she used had him actually mentally freeze for a moment. From their first introduction to now, the tone would be new.

Guarded, curious, and skeptical.

"... Yes?" he answered, as they stopped near a crosswalk.

"What did my sister mean by 'incident from two years ago'?"

He stopped his eyes from widening at the question before he looked at her directly.

Her eyes were narrow, a frown on her face as she crossed her arms.

Looking at her for a few more seconds, he turned back as the light changed.

"There was an incident with a local gang at night. I'm surprised you don't know about it," he started.

"I didn't live in Vale back then. I lived in one of the nearby coastal towns."

"I see. Back then, I'd been here for a year, attending boarding school. I was going for a run that night when I met your sister." They found themselves in the entertainment square, the male moved along the shops, ignoring them as Coco shot looks at each one they passed, keeping them in mind for later.

Stopping at a shop with a pair of gloves on the window, he continued.

"She wanted to get some information on some of the movement going on around this part of the Vale. That gang had actually attacked a place nearby which turned into a whole gang war in southern Vale." With that, he entered the shop with Coco following behind.

Talking to the shopkeep, Coco looked around the store. She too noticed that, as it showed on the window, it was a store that dabbled in custom jobs, mostly for gloves.

She looked at all the different kinds, looked at her own bare hands, and eyed a specific pair of gloves that were dark in color and missing their pointer fingers.

She heard the ring of a bell and turned around to see Obito leaving the store and heading back the way they came. All the while, he looked back at her before turning back to the road ahead.

She ran after him before pulling to a slow walk as she saw him stop by a street corner. Hearing a constant sound from the raven-haired teen, she saw him juggling a couple of stones as he looked at a group of seven.

Three faunus and four humans.

Coco already saw where this was heading, when she noticed one of the two male teens sporting a bruise on his cheek. The three faunus sneered at the humans, one of which wore a shit-eating grin.

Coco frowned and began to walk towards them but was surprised to notice that Obito was as well before she turned back to the situation as well.

By the time they'd were maybe 5 meters away, the group had noticed them.

Both parties froze at the sight of them before one of the humans sneered, coming closer.

"Alright, nothing to see here folks." He stepped up with a casual grin, eying Coco up for a moment before continuing. "As you can see, we're simply doing some disciplining of some pet we came by," he spouted off as though he were talking about the weather.

Obito could see Coco's clenched fist just outside of his peripheral but raised a brow when she smiled far friendly to be real.

"Well, you see, friend." She strutted up to him, her swaying hips taking all his attention away before he bent at the waist.

The foot that left his balls might have been a reason for that.

"I'm not here for any of your bullshit," she said with her own sneer before she turned to find the other three clutching their foreheads.

She blinked before turning to Obito, seeing his empty hand, and grinning. Right before she pat him on the butt.

He looked at her alarmed.

"Not bad for a school kid," she said before laughing at the look on his face.

He rolled his eyes at her before dodging a thrown stone. Both Coco and Obito turned their heads slowly to one of the girls of the human group, stones floating in her hand.

Said girl swallowed as Coco looked at her specifically. Head tipped down, Coco's eyes bore into the other girl before flickering to another boy of the group who held a flail.

"I'm probably going to have to deal with those two. Try and get those three out of here." He looked at her for a second but nodded nonetheless.

They were going to put their plan in action only for it not to matter as the sound of a siren broke the silence.

Stepping out of one of the two police cars, Ochre Adel stared down the teenagers.

Never noticing as a door to a bookstore closed behind the gathered crowd.

 _ **~DS~**_

Watching the cars pass by through the car window was a mellowing experience, Obito thought. Usually, Inko and them would walk throughout the city whenever she and Izuku visited or if he went back home.

 _Home._ He hadn't thought he'd had a home anymore after so long.

He felt a nudge on his shoulder which, considering how cramped it was, didn't surprise him. What did catch his attention was the words coming from the teenager next to him.

"Uhhh, yo?" the Uchiha blinked before turning to the male faunus. Seeing the cat-eared boy talking to him, he let out a silent confirmation.

"Hmm?"

"Well… we just want to say thanks, ya know?" he said, unsurely.

Looking at him for a moment, Obito blinked but before he could respond, the teen continued.

"It's not often that you guys really stick up for us. Ya know, against yourselve- Ow!" he yelp, rubbing his elbow where the girl faunus pinched him.

"What he means is, thanks for doing what most humans wouldn't. Right, Waka?" The goat girl glowered at the cat boy who rubbed the back of his head.

"I didn't mean it like that, Oren," She looked at him. "Alright, sorry, sorry." Looking Obito's way for some help, the raven-haired boy found it in him to answer this time.

"It's fine. I didn't take it any kind of way. I can understand that you haven't been treated well when it comes to most of… humans," he said. And wasn't that an understatement.

The Faunus racism he'd come to witness in this new life was downright baffling as far as he was concerned.

Who enslaved what was basically a stronger human? He sometimes wondered if humans here started off lower mentally than the ones fro his own world. The very fact that humans and faunus could breed should have been an indication that maybe they were approaching things incorrectly.

Maybe he was being too narrowminded about that though, considering he wasn't born into this place with no knowledge of how the world might work.

"Tsch, does it really matter?" said the last of the trio, a bat-eared boy who looked at the brunet with indifference. "There's probably something in it for him anyway."

Ochre's eyes flickered to the rearview mirror but otherwise remained on the road.

Coco turned to look at the depressing faunus, glasses sliding down her face.

"What's your deal? We came to help you and you think we're doing it for some reward?"

"Please, we heard you guys talking. We know that some of the officers here want him," He pointed to the now frowning Obito, "on their team. What better way to make an impression than to show them he's worth the cut, if not stopping some street fight?" the bat-teen said.

"Kai com-" Waka started.

"No! This has happened before! People would help for some reward but turn their backs on us if nothing's in it for them!" he grit his teeth.

"Hoping for humans to fully understand us and treat us with respect. To expect them to protect us like we're everyone else!" If his attitude hadn't surprised them. "We're NOT like all you humans!"

His piece said, he curled in on himself on the back seat and laid his face down into his crossed-arms. Only then did they notice the scars that littered his shoulders and neck.

Coco seemed taken aback, scratch that, she seemed utterly shocked and blown away with nothing to really retort with. Obito couldn't really blame her if he was honest.

This was the world they lived in, where racism ran rampant and not all good things happened to good people.

But…

* * *

" _There are no shortcuts to becoming Hokage!"_

" _What we want to know isn't where that shortcut is, but how to travel down that dangerous, unknown path."_

* * *

"The world is never going to be that simple," Obito started, catching the attention of all the teens in the car.

"There's always going to be someone who's NOT going to like you. That's just reality," he said, catching eyes with Waka and Oren while Kai' ears seemed to flop.

"That said, it doesn't mean it's never going to happen. Maybe not in the next year, decade, possibly not in your lifetime. Yet, it doesn't change the fact that there ARE people around who will accept you for you."

Waka ruffled his head of hair.

"So what? We just gotta find 'em? That's easier said than done, ya know?" Obito nodded with Coco chiming in.

"But he's right." They turned to Coco. "Vale's got its own rough spots but we're a lot more open to Faunus then most other kingdoms sans Menagerie. Beacon also accepts both Human and Faunus, so I'm sure there are plenty in the city."

Waka and Oren looked beyond hopeful after the speeches, while Kai's head had appeared from between his arms with a look are frustration.

"You can't expect all of that to just happen, do you?"

"Nothing worth doing or finding is going to be easy. It's all an effort," Obito said, to which the bat-eared boy just sighed before slumping against the back seat.

Coco looked unsure but Waka's nonchalant wave told her she needn't be so worried.

Letting out a breath of relief, she turned to Obito with a mischievous grin.

"Aren't you just a sage of wisdom?" she snickered watching for some embarrassment but instead getting the most melancholic she'd ever seen him.

"It helps that I received that from an actual sage."

She blinked at him.

 _ **~DS~**_

He stood there shaking Waka's hand, the boy enthusiastic in his appreciation.

The second they'd all gotten out of the car, dropping the three off, Obito and Coco found themselves at the mercy of the faunus trio's thanks.

Well, more like duo.

"Man, we're real lucky we met you guys!" he said with a smile.

"Less 'met' more 'saved by' but I think you get it," Oren said, nodding to Coco who gave her a grin and two-fingered salute.

Ochre stood off to the side by the police car, giving them their chance to say goodbye.

"I can hope there are more people like you guys in the city," Oren said with an unsure shrug, Waka nodding furiously behind her.

Obito observed them, eyes drifting over their demeanors before looking over to Kai who sat in a corner. The bat-faunus's eyes glued to the moving cars along the street.

He closed his eyes and couldn't help but think: What would Naruto do?

He'd gotten insight in the police car but it seemed to be failing him now.

He didn't know why this bothered him so much. Kai's two friends seemed to take to the advice well enough and would probably use it to some extent.

Two out of three wasn't bad if he was being fair…

So why couldn't he let this go?

* * *

" _The Hokage is the one who endures that pain… who paves the way for everyone else."_

* * *

He wasn't Hokage, he never would be… but even so….

He walked over before standing to Kai's left.

"Kai…" Kai jumped as he spoke but Obito made no mention of it.

"Oh, it's you," Kai muttered, looking ar Obito wearily. "What do you want?"

Obito shrugged.

He still wasn't sure what to really say to get this feeling to abate.

"Uh huh…" Kai looked surprised, thinking for a moment before he grumbled, looking away. "It's not like what you said was wrong, earlier," he said but continued. "It's just…" Obito leaned in.

"Is it wrong to hope for it to happen during my lifetime?"

Obito frowned, eyes turning from Kai to the streets.

"No, no it's not," he started. "But you have to want to fight for it. For…"

* * *

" _I'm just like a Hokage. I've moved one step above that station and look for the good of the entire world."_

* * *

"... the world you seek to create," the former ninja stuttered. Kai looked at him weirdly before his face took on a sorrowful look.

"Is that really right though?" he muttered with a grimace on his face. Obito looked at him alarmed as Kai continued. "My mom… she's part of the White Fang," he said quietly catching the Uchiha off-guard.

"What?"

"I know. It's just… what you said just now got to me. Mom always wanted better for me and joined the Fang when she was younger. When I was just born," he winced. "Even when the Fang changed and became...t-terrorists, she stayed.

"Is it really the right thing to _try_ if it makes you a monster?"

It was as if Kai had slapped him with one of Naruto's Rasengan.

His fist closed, as his throat tightened.

"It's like I'm never going to see mom again if this keeps up. Like she doesn't know she's my mother anymore."

* * *

" _You're not NOBODY! You're Obito Uchiha!"_

* * *

He closed his eyes, took a breath and relaxed. Clenched hands opened up and he spoke.

"I don't think it's that she doesn't remember," he said with determination that Kai was surprised by. "When we're so caught up in our goals, sometimes we lose sight of what was most important." He looked Kai in the eyes. "It's at those moments that your mother is going to need you the most."

Kai looked shocked before wetness reached the side of his eyes.

The Uchiha had made a decision.

"I'm going to become one of Vale's Police Force. I can't promise many things but I can promise to treat all faunuskind fairly without bias, while you can do your best to live your life to the best, find people who will accept you and when you do meet your mother."

Obito smiled. "You tell her everything she needs to hear, whether she likes it or not."

Kai had already been rubbing eyes by the time he was done.

 _ **~DS~**_

They sat in the back of the police car, Coco laid back on the seat with her eyes trying their hardest to stay open and Obito thinking back on the decision he'd made in the past hour. Thinking about the crying and then the thankful face of Kai had him narrow his eyes.

He's was many things. A former war monster, ninja, Uchiha, ninja, and murderer. That said…

There were people that believed he could change for the better. To face his past and understand that…

… He was Obito Uchiha.

He leaned back and closed his eyes before letting out a sigh.

Near the end of his previous life, he'd figured he hadn't really grown up from that day at the bridge so many years ago. It made a lot of sense to him.

He'd never felt more like a child than he did right now.

 _ **~DS~**_

He looked at the hotel and couldn't help but realize something unfortunate.

Coco now knew where he lived, even if temporarily.

"Nice place. Yaaaa~" Coco commented before releasing a yawn.

He already realized that he would be regretting this.

 _ **~DS~**_

He felt the bed creak as he finally sat down. Fully showered and ready for bed, he was happy his nightly training hadn't had him show up on some scene of trouble within the city of Vale.

He stared at the sleeping form of his mother as Izuku laid grabbing onto her, toy nunchucks in hand dropping off the side of their shared bed.

He sat there, looking at the two of them.

'I honestly don't deserve this.'

Every night he wondered how he'd ended up in these circumstances. An actual loving family and a life full of, well, no war.

'This is too much. Why me? This should be Sasuke or Naruto. A loving family with a living mother and father. Hell! Even Bakashi deserved this more than he did.'

He sighed before turning over on his other side and laying down. Staring out the window into nighttime Vale.

* * *

" _I'm always watching you!"_

" _Become the most badass Hokage and show me how you save the world!"_

* * *

He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

 _He stared at this world as they flew past. The action happening time and time again as they searched for a new fertile location._

 _He watched little lights fly up and around the planets. Some staying in orbit while others floated off to be caught by far and near stars and planets. Some ventured so far out that they slipped by the edge of the cosmos to another._

" _Here simply isn't worth it. We need something empty. We don't want out subjects to be visited without our presence. Hopefully, we don't have a repeat with the last one."_

 _He couldn't help but agree. Humans were interesting to raise but got too full of themselves. They'd breed and fill that planet again but with a fraction of the space not invaded by his leftover creations._

 _Passing a particularly glowing planet, he slowed the time around them and came to a stop. His brother's head looked to him in question and he gestured to the glowing planet._

" _This is an interesting one," he said, eyes glowing harder as he sought its history and came back disappointed but secretly hopeful._

" _Full of such violence and war. They fight among themselves and stay in disarray but… One seems destined to unite them. It's quite amusing to watch." he said, his brother pulling the slightest bit closer past him._

 _They looked at the planet before they found themselves face to face with a single entity._

 _Bone white mask with long dual horns stared at them. A ragged formal attire lay over its form as a dagger sat in his left hand._

' _Why are you here?' it seemed to say, leaving them surprised._

 _Another god?_

 _Further prodding gave them the answer to its specific function and he, in particular, found himself amused._

 _A God of Death? Perhaps they should stay and he and this god could bond?_

" _Forgive us, we were unaware of your station. We will leave post haste. Come brother." with that, the golden light of his fellow dragon rose from the world._

 _He had a few more words he wished to exchange with this so-called God of Death._

" _Why do you allow those to escape?"_

 _The Shinigami looked at the roving lights of his world, scant few moving farther and farther away from the planet before disappearing into the space beyond before turning back to the skeletal dragon._

' _Humans carry with them potential beyond understanding. Some flourish here and some don't.'_

 _If he'd had eyeballs, he'd blink._

 _What?_

" _I don't understand." he couldn't._

 _Humans were selfish creatures. Born and raised in various conditions and yet will fall into the arrogance of their existence._

 _The Shinigami tilted their head._

' _Humans come and go. Leaving their mark on the world and pushing its history further.' it turned to the glowing orb in front of them. 'I will forever be susceptible to their whims, and yet...'_

 _Somehow, he could imagine it_ _ **smiling**_ _._

' _I enjoy watching those struggles. Forever living their lives to the fullest due to their short duration. When the time comes, I'll guide them where they need to go, if necessary. Hell, the Pure Land, Reincarnation, or elsewhere.' here the god reached out and caught a fluttering, slowly moving light._

 _In the Shinigami's hand, it glowed brightly before it released the soul out to the cosmos._

 _The god stared for a moment before coming to a realization._

 _This being… this God of Death…_

 _Loved humans._

 _He watched the god for a moment before deciding to take his leave._

" _This conversation… I'm going to think about it," he said beginning to float away before he noticed another stray light._

 _It was bigger than the others and he couldn't keep his eyes off it._

 _Noticing his gaze, the Shinigami "Smiled" again._

' _Those souls that leave significant effects on the world are bigger than the rest.' it said before grabbing hold of the soul._

 _The God of Darkness couldn't help but stare at the soul._

" _Could I…" he was asking? "This soul may I choose where it goes?"_

 _The Shinigami looked alarmed before it tilted its head._

" _Please. I wish to send this soul somewhere different so I may… watch humans in the way that you do." he finished, surprising even himself._

 _They tilted their head before "grinning" and letting the soul float to him._

 _He held it up in his claws before tapping it once, in a direction only he and his brother knew._

 _He bowed and Shinigami nodded._

 _He floated away some before the Shinigami gave him some… lasting advice._

' _Leave you may but hear this… I will also watch this soul and should you impede upon his natural progress in any way…'_

 _The space between them seemed so much, CLOSER than he could fathom._

' _God or not, I will bring **Death** to you.'_

 _Even looking at the God of Death brought chills to his existence. He nodded and floated back to travel with his brother._

 _Being mindful of that God's words._

 _Truly a God that loved Humanity._

* * *

He stood there, eying the academy in the more far-reaching parts of Vale proper. He stood next to Ochre who gazed at the facility with indifference.

"This is where we part ways," she said, the both of them turning to each other, before holding out her hand. "You've been doing enough Auxiliary work that I don't think it's wrong to say, you're ready. I hope to hear from you in the coming half-year."

Taking her hand, he shook it with a determined look.

"I hope to meet your expectations."

"Of course he will!" came a voice of the person they'd been pointedly ignoring.

Coco grinned at their sour faces, hands on her hips as she stood amused at their dramatics. Walking over to the eye-rolling recent turned 17-year-old, she wagged her finger three times in front of his face.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, how can you just say goodbye to your beloved mentor with a _handshake_?" Coco shook her head in a disapproving fashion. "Oh come on! This is where mentor and student hug it out for Oum's sake!"

Both Uchiha and older Adel looked at her as if she was insane.

"It's unnecessary," Obito said.

"Completely." Ochre followed up.

"Maybe you should focus less on daily drama."

"And more on your huntress- _in-training work_ instead of other people's interaction."

" **Right, Coco?** " They finished.

Coco's glasses fell to the floor, as she stood there horrified.

"Oh God, there's _two_ of them!"

 _ **~DS~**_

She stared at the photo, eyes examining its details for what was possibly the umpteenth time before putting it down with a grunt.

Icy blue eyes stared at the sandbag in her tent before she went at it with a fury that'd make the tribe proud.

"It's been seven years you _bastard_ ," she emphasized with a fist slamming against the bag. "The next time I see you, I'll make you kneel on the floor. At! My! Feet!"

With the last punch, she transitioned into a kick that sent the bag flying out her tent into some poor sap outside.

"No leaves the tribe like that gutless Qrow and gets away scot-free!"

* * *

 _ **And like that, Chapter one is DONE!**_

 _ **Now, with the creation of this fic,**_ **This Changeling Life** _ **is officially on 'Hiatus'. Many probably won't like that but it's more of a lot of problems with the story came up that kind of makes it hard for me to write it.**_

 _ **As such, I'm putting it on hiatus for now and focusing on this fic.**_

 _ **I'm hoping this new format I've got going on, the less word count, helps me update more regularly.**_

 _ **I'm hoping to make this my longest spanning fic that'll make use of all the experience I've had up to this point.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoy this too.**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	2. Added Perspectives

_**Here we are with chapter TWO! Not much fanfare to be had here, really.**_

 _ **It's chapter two and I want to keep this ball rollin'.**_

 _ **P.S. I want to be clear that, while I have researched a bit of police academy details, I'll be playing loose with the concepts. Just letting you guys know.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

Ideally, he'd get through this with little problem.

He'd keep to himself, study his way through, excel to the top, be done and get out to meet with Ochre.

A man stayed laid out on the floor courtesy of the Uchiha's fist as his lackeys backed away.

He really wasn't in the mood for this.

He may have been younger than everyone here but he could put all the people here down with a bit of effort.

That thought in mind, he looked down at his fellow recruit and shook his head before walking away from him. Quickly looking at the other Faunus recruit who had quickly disappeared from the premises.

Ruffling his now buzzcut hair, he eyed the black tattoo-like markings running around his right wrist. A mirroring one on his left.

Chakra seals. Useful little things for when you're apprehending criminals or rogue ninja too tired to fight back. The ones he was using were low-leveled compared to ones that would be used on high-level prison/ninjas.

They'd work only so far as he let them.

Ninja's bodies were further enhanced by active chakra use but were also enhanced passively. Chakra had the tendency to do that for you and he wished to do this whole trial without the use of it.

He was simply amazed by the fact that they worked with Aura until he reminded himself of two very important facts:

Chakra was a mix of physical and SPIRITUAL energies of the body.

Aura was the power of the SOUL, or otherwise known as the spirit.

It was simply too good of a comparison for it to be false. So if these seals could reign in chakra?

Aura was a non-issue.

Mind you, his muscles were developed alongside his Aura and were far more advanced than anybody else's his age and possibly a couple of adults, huntsman-in-training included due to techniques he'd brought over from his previous world.

Walking away from the _attempted_ bullying/hazing, he quickly found his barracks and returned to his studies. Being a Sunday, most of the other recruits were either sleeping, reading or playing more of those video game things he'd seen before.

Strange contraptions, those things.

He wasn't really sure how to spend his time. He'd never really had "Free-time" before coming to this place and he'd simply kept up his previous world habits up until coming to this academy. All of which could be summed up as training, training, and more training.

He eyed his "Scroll", these little inventions of this world were nothing short of magical.

Instant communication from anywhere, CCT standing of course. Surveillance via photos and _video_ , access to information through the CCT Networks.

More importantly, access to the hundreds of weapon custom shops around the world of Remnant.

More realistically, he'd make his weapons on his 'd done it already once, and the results had applications he wasn't sure were safe to release into the world of Remnant.

He quickly removed himself from the chair and stepped out of the room idling at the door as he noticed the poster on the front.

 _Optional Weapon's classes begin at 2 pm for all cadets!_

Underneath the headline was a picture of several guns posed over one another.

He found a slight smile etched on his lips.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"The days of normal criminals are over! We live in a world where, at the slightest inclination, we could be overrun by the worst of the worst! Today you'll learn about your closest friends and allies!"

They all watched the instructor with confusion before he jumped while raising a weapon from his back.

"GUNS!"

He landed and acted as nothing had happened, much to the complete disbelief of the recruits who spent their Sunday here.

Obito didn't even bat an eye.

Gai was more eccentric than this officer would ever be. Of that, Obito would bet his second life on.

"NOW! Come up to the display we have today." Starting loud and finishing politely, they simply ran with it and the recruits looked at the array of guns before them.

Obito looked at the guns before him.

A pistol, rifle, shotgun, and sniper rifle. In that order, there were five pistols, four rifles, four shotguns, and two sniper rifles.

There were a good 15 recruits in total here and just barely the right amounts of guns.

"Alright! Uchiha!" Obito snapped to attention. "Pick a weapon."

The ninja nodded before going up the line. Passing the shotguns and rifles before stopping by the pistols.

"Ah~ Simple weapons. No extra spears, swords, lances nor knives to be found."

Obito blinked at the rather specific line the instructor used-

* * *

" _Hm hm hm, it's unusual for me to take on students, much less pick them out myself, but I see potential in you two," she said, her long, voluminous black hair falling down behind her mask._

 _He frowned as she walked in front of the two of them. His expression the mirror opposite of the girl's beside him, who smiled with a joy that shouldn't have been seen on a little girl facing a_ BANDIT _leader._

" _Now," she swung out her hand to an array of wooden weapons laid out on the floor of her tent. "Pick your weapon and remember that this is going to be your main weapon for your life in the tribe."_

* * *

… before focusing back on the pistols.

He balanced each one in his palm.

The instructor just watched as he scored again and again and _again_.

Each time, the black-haired recruit would turn to another target, it found itself full of rubber bullets.

Finishing, he put down the gun before moving to stand where the recruits had formerly been, eying the rest of the recruits practice with their own picks.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He leaped from rooftop to rooftop, mindful of any passerby that would out him in the night sky.

He was making his way to a very specific location in the nightlife of Vale. His training grounds of the past two years was easily one of his favorites in this world.

Landing softly on the top of a rather tall building near his target, he observed the one across him.

Bright neon lights shot into the night sky, as various people hung about the front, gathered in a long line that reached near the edge of the street.

He looked down below before dropping, his fall slowed by a slight burst of Aura from his entire body that flashed black.

Landing with a slight "poof" of dust at his feet, Obito looked, once more, at The Club before walking towards its doors.

As he crossed the street and ended up in front of the bouncer, who was already giving him the stink eye, he pulled out a red card.

The man immediately backed up and let him in with a courtesy tip of his hat.

Nodding as he passed, he quickly put some earplugs in as he crossed the relatively quiet nightlife outside and entered the raucous establishment and immediately began making his way to the bar.

His hood being up probably wasn't too welcomed by the bartender as he sized him up before his eye went wide in recognition.

"Red-Eye?" the man serving drinks said, causing Obito to sigh.

"Yes Junior, it's me," he responded before sitting at the counter and tapping once at its polished finish.

Junior rose an eyebrow before they shoot up and he quickly moved to the door behind him.

Entering and exiting took at most five minutes with the man showing a purple, floral bottle to the academy recruit.

"Ah, it came." He said, accepting a small shot glass from Junior before the man filled it for him.

"Yeah, Mistrali Aurea fresh off the market. Gotta say I'm more impressed someone your age even knows about this stuff." Hei "Junior" Xiong said, eying the sake in his hands before Red-Eye raised a cup to him.

Eyebrow raised, the hooded teen pointed to the bottle before pointing to Junior, causing the man to blink at him.

"Yeah, thanks. Can't drink much really, still on the job."

"I understand."

Their glasses full they clinked them together before taking their drink of the glass.

"Haaa… Hmmm, so what brings you here Red-Eye?"Xiong said curiously.

The guy came here maybe twice a week. Usually for the status quo on what was going on in the underworld. Other than that it was about the space at a dock warehouse.

So half and half on what he wanted.

"I wanted to infer about the current vacancy of the docks." Junior nodded.

"Place is pretty busy right now. Recently got a shipment in on dust from Atlas and they're making sure to keep at it for the next week or so with continuous shipments." the hooded individual sighed.

"I see, then I will be borrowing your downstairs, Junior."

"Alright. Just try not to faint this time. If Melanie catches you, I'm not responsible for anything that can and will happen."

Obito frowned. That girl really couldn't keep her hands to herself. It excited hormones he'd considered long since conquered and brought a mortifying shame that some little girl was giving him any kind of excitement.

Walking around the bar and through the door, he took the staircase to the left and followed it down. After bypassing what had to be several meters of bedrock, Obito found himself in a slightly cavernous space perfectly fit for his needs.

He removed his dark jacket, putting it on one of the nearby coat hangers, leaving him in his sleeveless shirt and sweatpants, both dark blue in color. His shoes were a personally created pair of ninja sandals, same color, that he removed as well.

Now barefoot, he raised his arm, eying it before his Aura came to life. The black light surrounding his body hummed as he focused.

Within moments, his Aura sunk into his skin, black light dimming immediately before disappearing altogether.

He let out a breath, as he felt his now Aura aligned muscles flex. The floor crack, as he let out a slight amount of concentrated Aura.

'Good. I'm able to call it back without dispelling it.'

Aura was a fascinating concept.

It wasn't like chakra where you couldn't access it after a certain point in your life. You can take blows that would physically dismember you and walk them off.

He'd seen the previous Vytal Tournaments and the fact that you could be harmed without being _harmed_ was utterly ridiculous and yet it was, in fact, a thing.

It also boosted the parameters of those who had it. Speed, hand-eye coordination, durability, and strength.

It was almost like chakra… but it had more cons, in his opinion, than the pros.

Yes, it boosted all those who could use to rather ninja-like degrees but fell short. While Chakra had a low starting point in comparison, with Aura's being WAY higher, without training no less, you could get more mileage out of chakra than Aura.

Chakra was more versatile from the getgo compared to Aura. There were techniques that Aura used that simulated chakra and that weren't passive.

Where you had to LEARN to apply Aura to your muscles, chakra did it by itself and better.

Where you had to use a finite source like Dust to use the elements, you had chakra natures.

The durability was nice, in the beginning, but it capped after a certain point depending on Aura.

Chakra could grow and be nurtured. Aura wasn't considered worth the effort to increase it, which baffled Obito to end.

Maybe it was the culture difference. He blamed it on the very strict nature of Aura itself, mostly lacking easier offensive applications, so people spent more time using a single weapon than actively working on increasing their Aura.

So he didn't fancy Aura all that much.

That's why he aimed to change it into something he could be happy with.

He felt his Aura lining every muscle as he closed his eyes and pushed it _further_. Each Bone was coated, joints were reinforced, tendons and ligaments enhanced before he allowed it to buzz in the background of his mind.

He let out a long breath and proceeded to exercise.

200 push-ups, both two-armed and then one-armed. 600 in total.

200 laps around the perimeter of the cavern, which was close to about 30 meters on loop, so that was cardio handled.

Next was where his Aura was put through his Chakra Test.

He removed his shirt, the sweat distracting him as the cloth clung to his body, and walked towards the wall.

'Again, it's basically the same. With one extra step.' was what he thought, as he laid a foot on the wall before it was joined by its counterpart.

Wall-walking wasn't easy with Aura, that's for sure. It wasn't as simple as chakra where simply using a certain amount will allow one to stick to a surface.

Making small anchors with each step is something he'd learned after much trial and error.

Walking on water was more difficult because it required the same concept but with platforms of Aura around one's feet.

Funnily enough, these also worked to help increase Aura and control. Once again, one of the rare similarities of Aura and chakra that made him more tolerant of it. Though it might not have been viable for anyone with not enough Aura to start with.

He began with walking vertically and then horizontally before he began to run at a brisk pace. The faster he went, the quicker the anchors had to be made.

Then he dashed. In this case, he didn't make an anchor for each step, simply each stopping point before he moved to another location on the wall.

It worked differently for if you were upside down though.

Flipping from the ceiling to the floor, he looked over to the clock on the wall.

0130 hours. He had to be back by at least 2:15 to get a couple more hours of sleep. So, with that in mind, he moved onto a last bit of exercise.

The most important one he'd come to follow through on since that incident five years ago.

Against his bastard of a father.

* * *

" _Make no mistake my child," the man began, the smile on his face contrasting the cut running along his cheek. "This is no loss on your part. You've gone past even my wildest expectations. Your ability to copy my greatest technique is something your siblings couldn't even fathom in their decades of life."_

 _He flicked his long nodachi to the side before sheathing it and turning to leave the band of kidnapped children and his son._

" _Yet, it remains unpolished. Two strokes instead of three," he hummed with a smile playing on his lips. "Yes, you're close."_

" _Your potential is astounding! If I may be so bold, you're more impressive than your older siblings were at your age." the older male chuckled, eyes alight with something that'd caused Obito to clench his fists. "To see that come to fruition." he paused._

 _His father eyed him up and down before looking far away. Somewhere above and past the trees. Yet, it didn't remain there, moving to the group of scared, small children._

 _One especially with green, frizzy hair._

 _The young man's feet hit the floor before he knew it._

* * *

His face became muted, lips thinning and eyebrows straight, as he moved his left hand over to his hip. At the location, on his bare body, was a tattoo in the shape of the Uchiha fan.

He bit thumb, drawing blood, before swiping it over the marking. All the while, he allowed his Aura to flow over his skin again, focusing on the seals.

As he said before, if seals could handle chakra, they could handle Aura but it came with a caveat.

Whatever was to be in the seal itself had to have Aura in it. Not just any Aura either but that specific person's Aura.

Make your own weapon while infusing Aura into it, weave cloth with aura on each thread, or even grow a plant with Aura.

An item popped out of the seal and he held onto it tightly.

A straight-bladed nodachi with a foot long handle and a meter long blade. The handle was wrapped in red, Aura-infused, leather and bound by billets he himself had made. The blade was black, also made personally by him, with four Sharingan lined up the blade with space between them.

* * *

 _She frowned, her young face contorting to look aggressive and failing spectacularly._

 _He wasn't sure when she'd started following him around. If it wasn't the constant demands for a fight or trying to steal his catch of the day, she was always somewhere nearby. She probably thought she was sneaky but it simply wasn't to be done when it came to him._

" _What are they?" he actually_ froze _. Mind trying to figure out why he'd made Sharingan along the side of the blade._

" _Hm," he grunted out, staring at the patterns before his eyes softened. The young girl beside him blinked, wide-eyed._

" _It's special to me." to who he was._

 _She recovered and huffed before looking away._

" _Whatever. I guess it might scare someone in the middle of a fight," she said bluntly, head turned away from him._

* * *

The pommel also had a single adornment of a bird pendant.

He eyed it before sighing. He removed it from the pommel before lengthening the lace and placing it around his neck.

It might come to some as a surprise that his sister was well-versed in crafting accessories. She seemed to do it with those she considered worthy of it, he'd supposed.

Leaving the tribe had been his decision but he had a feeling she knew.

He turned from the necklace to his sword and flicked it outward, a wave of Aura flowing down the weapon.

He closed his eyes and allowed his body to take stance.

Legs spread to little over shoulder length with his dominant foot, his right, leaning forward, foot perpendicular to his left.

Crouch slightly, focus ahead, hands grasped on the handle. His dominant hand near the guard and his off-hand near the pommel.

He held his form for a moment and then sprung.

" **Tsubame Gaeshi"**

The air _hummed_ in an eerie way. His wrist, ankles, elbows, and hips felt sore as he relaxed from the strike.

"Two slashes," he frowned, eyes narrowing. "It's not good enough."

He tried again.

Two strikes.

He tried again.

Two strikes.

He tried again.

Two strikes.

He tried agai-

The sword fell from his grasp, his knees falling to the floor barely after it. He grit his teeth as his hands shook and his body trembled.

Not good enough. He simply wasn't good enough. Not for this. Not for this life of his.

Why hadn't he stayed dead?

"Ya done?"

Obito let out a sigh as he lifted his head up to see a girl in a white peacock dress staring at him with a raised brow.

"Junior told me ya came again."

Fucking Junior.

"So I came on down here to see how our friendly Red-Eye was doin'." is what she said but he could see that mischievousness settled in her gaze.

What had he done to deserve this?

* * *

" _I don't know who ya are but thanks."_

 _Obito stood there, hood up, as he watched the man named Junior patch up the girls in red and white._

 _Gangs were something he was both unfamiliar with and familiar with at the same time._

 _Finding people like this wasn't hard in the Elemental Nations but it usually was for more than territory._

 _Information on other ninjas, countries' resources and the like were more prevalent._

 _This was a simple ambush of questionable intent to send a message._

 _They were lucky he'd gotten there before both were knocked out._

 _Hei Xiong let out a frustrated sigh, putting away the med kit as he surveyed his girls._

 _The man had offered him some form of reward which had been perfect. He'd need a training space in the city._

 _Then he offered a "Mission" which was perfect because it caught his attention._

 _The Lucky Vein Gang wouldn't survive the morning._

* * *

 _ **~NRK~**_

He could hear the murmurs of the other recruits as their superior spoke a certain word.

 _Huntsmen_.

"I'm sure you all know this but the world of today is endangered by the Grimm!" Instructor Green started. "These vile vermin corner most of the globe and keep us humans in a constant state of fear and panic…. Were it not for Huntsman!" he finished by slamming a hand onto the blackboard behind him, the word scribbled on its surface.

"You never know when criminals of today's world are trained in the use of Aura or not. More than a couple of cases like this can be found in Mistral where crimes are recently on an unexpected rise. Individuals that turn away from their sworn duty to protect the masses and use their cantankerous capability to attack roaming villages, steal and more unfortunate crimes on the unexpecting populace."

He walked by each of them before a recruit raised their hand, catching the officer's attention.

"Yes, Clayroad?" Attention on her, the girl shriveled in on herself before speaking.

"It's just… what are we supposed to do? None of us have Aura to be as strong as Huntsmen." she finished and the room filled with murmurs.

"That's correct. We don't have the powers of huntsmen but we have the next best thing-"

"Access to the power of 'em. What's up kiddos?" Came a voice from the door, interrupting their superior officer.

Obito's right eye twitched.

Coming through the door was a seemingly middle-aged man with familiar black hair with a couple of grey strands and red eyes. A gray coat that was light around its outer portions with a long coattail over a black opened dress shirt, dark slacks and a red torn layered over him as he grinned.

Qrow Branwen.

"So this is this year's recruits huh?" he questioned peering over the groups of students. Obito found himself lucky he was mixed into the back.

This was some form of Qrow's semblance working on him.

Even though he knew how different Qrow was from Raven, especially with where they stood with one another, he didn't want to be dealing with another Branwen for while.

Hopefully, a full decade at the minimum.

"Y-Yes. Huntsmen are far more suited to dealing with their own kind." the instructor, now back with his wits, resumed.

Qrow eyed him in amusement before looking to the recruits and catching eyes with Obito.

Red eyes widened to an unnatural degree before he started laughing causing the recruits to shuffle.

His laughter died down before Qrow reigned himself in.

His smile remained but the adopted Midoriya could sense the exasperation behind it.

"Now…" Qrow idly walked up and down the lined up recruits. Just so happening to stop just by Obito, who didn't allow any kind of emotion to show at their current meeting.

"What do you guys know about the Grimm?"

 _ **~NRK~**_

He walked out of the locker rooms last, fully suited up in blue sweatpants and a shirt of the same color with the academy logo on the back of it before stopping.

He'd stopped at the doorway and turned to the left, meeting eyes with the now frowning Qrow who was leaned up against the wall.

"..."

"..."

"... We meet again Mr. Branwen."

"Don't give me that shit kid. What the hell are you doing here? Last I saw you, you were in bandages." Qrow prodded, removing himself from his leaning position. "What are you doing in Vale?"

"I don't understand," Obito answered but it was half-hearted.

He knew exactly why Qrow was irritated right now.

"You're fulla shit, you know that?" Qrow sighed, hand held to his head. "I offer ya the chance to come here years ago and you blew me off. Now look where you are.," he finished, glaring through half his fingers.

Obito frowned. "I'd made it clear before, I would not go with you. I had recently been adopted, Qrow. I wasn't about to have you whisk me away to Vale."

"You know that's not true. I told ya, I'm sure Oz could have pulled some strings and had you all relocated to Vale. Your father would be nearby and we needed to get you out of there as soon as possible."

And there it was, his issue with this whole scenario just reeked of ulterior motives.

"Why are you doing this, again?" Obito frowned. "You tried this back when you first set eyes on me in the tribe, then after our biological father left me looking worse for wear and now you're here?" here Obito's eyes narrowed, dark silver clashing against Qrow's crimson eyes.

The huntsman let out a sighing growl as he combed his right hand through his greying hair.

"Is it so wrong for me to want you safe?" Obito shook his head.

"Is that so? Because Raven says otherwise."

"Of course she would. She's just trying to turn you against me."

"Against you? Or Ozpin and his war against Salem?"

Eyes wide, throat tightening and face pale, Qrow stared at the younger male with an expression more fit for a clown.

"How?! WHO TOLD YOU?!" his voice rising he gripped the younger Branwen's shoulders. Obito stared back at him with an impassive glance.

"Who do you think? Qrow you obviously know exactly who told me. That being..."

Obito spoke words that caused Qrow to let go of and watch his sibling go with fear in his heart.

"Mr. Branwen!"

Qrow actually jumped as the instructor from before came from the direction Obito went.

"Wh-what?"

"We're leaving you behind!"

"Uhhh, right. Right, sorry." with his response, the officer nodded and marched back to the waiting cadets.

Qrow looked at the group, catching eyes with Obito before his lips dipped heavily at their ends.

He needed to inform Oz at the first opportunity.

" _I'll figure out a way to deal with Salem myself. Unkillable or otherwise, I won't be your soldier in a war."_

And figure out what the hell that meant.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"Alright, so what do you guys know about Huntsmen?"

Qrow walked the line of them, idling by Obito for a moment before asking the recruit next to the current pain in his ass.

"You!"

"Right! Private Redwood answering sir!" Qrow actually felt some amusement slip back into him.

"Get on with it!"

"Yes! Huntsmen are the people that graduate from Huntsmen Academies, like Beacon! Each comes away with a weapon of various effects and mechanics which, coupled along with their strange powers, are the ones who fight off the Grimm!" she let out a couple breaths as Qrow nodded.

"Right on the money. Us huntsmen are the ones who make sure you all can sleep well at night when it comes to the outer walls of Vale. Each Huntsman will more often than not carry a weapon of their own making and carry special abilities that we call Semblances with the unlocking of our aura." Qrow explained, getting a myriad of mumbles and awe-inspired wide-eyed looks.

Concentrating, he lit up by a dark red veil of energy that caused the cadets' eyes to boggle.

"Aura, for huntsmen, is what makes us seem so special in the eyes of the populace"

Turning to Instructor Green, Qrow nodded and the officer pulled out his phone.

"When the time comes and you find yourselves in the presence of criminal who has either huntsman training or was a former huntsman/huntress themselves there's a special dial app you can phone in to reach any nearby available huntsmen."

Turning his scroll around, and projecting it into the air between the cadets and Qrow.

Black in coloration, with a metal plate on a weird looking object that had holes where numbers were placed.

"With the press of each number you HAVE the press the middle part before touching the next one."

There was an alarm that went off and Qrow removed his Scroll from his pocket to show them the message playing across its surface.

"This will be sent to any available Huntsmen, human or Faunus, in the current city you're located in. Atlas, Vale, Mistral, you name it it's there. CCT nearby of course."

He eyed a certain Faunus cadet who fidgeted but rose his hand.

Qrow rose an eyebrow. "Yeah?" The Faunus looked startled before collecting himself.

"Um, it's okay?" he got the go-ahead from Qrow, breathing a sigh of relief. "Um, if it's not too much to ask, why doesn't everybody have their Aura unlocked?" This question caused a rising agreement among the cadets. Many of who looked at Qrow accusingly.

"Whoa," the huntsman waved his hands in front of him. "Clearly you guys think it's all fun and games but Aura is very precious and also dangerous."

"How?" asked another brat.

"Easy, you guys don't have Aura so you won't ever really know, Aura makes you a big target for Grimm." his explanation got gasps out of many of the recruits, while Obito narrowed his eyes.

'That's false. If it were true the tribe would be fighting off Grimm every day just to survive. At most ten Aura-filled individuals would make them prime targets and the tribe has at least TWICE as much.'

Where was this coming from? It was honestly baffling that some could believe this if they were a huntsman. Qrow especially should know better considering he'd come from the same tribe.

He tuned back in as Qrow finished answering questions.

"That all? Okay then, I think that's all." Qrow said with finality. "I'm gonna tell you guys that a couple other Huntsmen will be coming through here every month to go over this stuff again."

Finished his piece he gave his leave to their instructor and walked out.

But of course, Obito rolled his eyes, he didn't leave without giving his younger sibling a look that said 'this isn't over'.

There went his normal days in Vale.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"I see, this is quite the situation." he folded his hands, eyes closed. "I wasn't expecting Raven to tell anyone. Though maybe I was too naive to believe Raven wouldn't tell her family. Is there anyone else I should know about?"

He opened his eyes, locking onto Qrow.

"Much less your own baby brother, who just happens to be in the city where you and Raven attended Beacon. A Silver-Eyed Branwen?" it was almost laughable if not for the severity of the breach of information on his former student's part.

"It's not like I was expecting him to be anywhere near here and no." Qrow paused for a moment. "Raven wasn't particularly connected to anyone when it came to the tribe. Our mom died a year after we were born, and our dad's a bastard." Qrow's hand clench, catching Ozpin's attention.

"It seems that your father is an irritating subject."

"That doesn't even cover half of it, he's most of the reason Raven is the way she is. That said, she hates him, so he's out. We have no other blood relatives as far as I know." he winced. "I'll probably check back in on that just in case."

"I believe that is the correct decision, especially since your search for your brother has come to a rather anticlimactic end." Qrow snorted. "Yet, I have more questions still. The most obvious one being: why haven't you told me that your father was a Silver-Eyed Warrior?"

Qrow paused before letting out a long breath.

"Oz I'm going to level with you. Don't. Include. My. Father. In ANYTHING." Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon, found himself taken aback. "Never try to strike a deal with my father. Don't show yourself as strong around him or let him in on plans that require things to go well. My father is always obsessed with one thing: the strong."

Ozpin frowned. "I don't fully grasp what you mean. If you mean his lust for battle will turn our plans sour-"

"No, you don't understand." Qrow interrupted. "My father will stop at _nothing._ To get a fight. If he realizes either side has a bigger advantage."

"He'll switch to the opposite side to get a good fight out of it." Qrow finished causing Ozpin's eyes to widen.

"I-I see." the very thought of a Silver-Eyed one _joining_ Salem's side of their own volition filled him with dread.

Should the time come where he was without options…

He'd remove them from this world himself.

 _ **~NRK~**_

She sat on her mat in a plain gray shirt and brown shorts turning her hands side to side as she inspected the chakram held in each one.

Serrated around the edges coming to two points that stopped it from being a full circle. She had a circular mechanism for a gun in the middle and around its handle… was a red leather that made it easier for her to grip.

Her eyes settled on the leather, turning her hand over it to reveal a small fan on it.

Her lips dipped at the ends before she stood up and put her weapons back on the stand in her tent.

"Vernal." Her head snapped to the opening in her tent to see a woman staring inside.

Her long black hair falling down her back was covered by a small dark red bandana. Her skin was pale for someone who lived out in the wilds like they did and her crimson eyes stared straight at Vernal.

"Raven?" Vernal stood straighter as her mentor pulled the tent flap even further before inviting herself in.

A shallow cut black and red dress with black shorts underneath, with series of beaded necklaces and a belt that normally wrapped around her waist to also hold her weapon. Her red gauntlets sat snug on her forearms as she crossed her arms.

Raven cut a rather terrifying figure of the baddest bitch around most of the time, especially with her mask and feathered bits to add to the scary Grimm lady image.

Standing still, as Raven seemed to inspect her, Vernal didn't dare speak up.

"Did I ever tell you about what my mentor made me do when I was about your age?"

Still sticking to her "Better-not-speak" idea, Vernal shook her head.

"I was sent to Beacon," the younger woman's eyes went wide. "I think it might suit you to have the same experience." Raven finished, leaving Vernal an opened mouth fish.

"B-B-But!" turns out being quiet wasn't gonna help. "But I thought you said no one would do it again! Somethin' about your time there being wasted." she didn't understand.

Raven always seemed kind of, scratch that completely and utterly, against going back to those shits at Beacon.

What changed her mind?

"So I'm going this year?" she asked as she thought about when she'd be leaving.

Maybe she could find that bastard while she was out there.

"No," Raven stated with a shake of the head. "While your current level is far above the first years there, even most of the second years, I want you to go to Beacon the strongest there."

Ozpin would watch potential come and go without even a step into his direction.

"Come your 18th birthday you'll attend Beacon." her peace said, Raven left the tent and Vernal in stunned silence.

Two years. In two years, shed attend Beacon. Going through what Raven had… hopefully without the getting knocked-up part.

Two years and she'd be out in the world. Able and definitely going to find that son of a bitch.

"Obito, when I find you, you're DEAD."

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **So, sorry about this coming out so late. I wanted to get this out by the end of January but it got away from me. That said, it's here now, so better late then never I suppose.**_

 _ **Now, onto other matters:**_

 _ **I'm never going to follow RT's dumpster fire of an idea for Adam. Not here, not in future fics and definitely ever.**_

 _ **I simply can't understand how they did Adam dirty the way they did. His whole character was transferred to ILYA because they had no idea on how to handle a morally grey character.**_

 _ **Nevermind how he's so far the only Faunus facing legit, severe racism. Nevermind the fact that killing Adam doesn't SOLVE anything! He's not some special snowflake! He's literally one of what is probably hundreds of Faunus who've faced the same kind of fate.**_

 _ **Whatever, this topic is done.**_

 _ **2) I simply don't like in Medias Res kind of Storytelling here. I feel like things would work better with me starting at Obito's true beginning in this fic which, mind you, is definitely gonna be a couple chapters of this fic.**_


	3. Gang Spiral

_**We're just gonna dive right into this one.**_

 _ **The newest updates about my opinion on the show stand.**_

 _ **Adam's not going the way of ruin via RT writing**_

 _ **All that settled, let's get into this.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

"You can't give up here. This will help you in the long run!"

"Says you!"

"Ughhhhhhhhhh…"

Obito looked at the two girls with nary a smile nor frown, as he felt his body hum in pain and muscle tears.

Melanie wasn't much better, white attire stained in dirt and sweat, while her twin in red, Miltia, was sitting on the floor in the same state.

He'd taken to training the two at Junior's behest. A favor he'd, in turn, requested some materials and a place to forge for.

Junior was surprisingly okay with the compromise he'd given him. Obito considered that it was probably because of how mundane both of the things he'd asked for actually were.

He imagined a person of more shady persuasion would ask for something dubious.

That said, training the twins had an unexpected benefit for his training.

Obito ducked under a kick from Melanie before grabbing the leg and twisting his body to toss her into the wall.

"Shit!"

She landed with a curse, sliding down the wall before coming to rest on the wall.

He turned to look at Miltia who was frozen in her attempt to sneak up on him.

Catching eyes, she quickly retreated back near her sister, waving awkwardly at him as she helped Melanie up.

Obito shook his head.

"You're getting better at your sneak attacks at least." the ninja said as he walked over.

"Yeah, well, for someone with no Aura running through them you're still bullshit." Melanie snorted. "I still don't believe that by the way."

"It is unbelievable. Red-Eye the very fact you can still beat us makes your words hard to understand." Miltia pitched in, resting Melanie against her shoulder. "Were it not for the bruises, I'd be calling bullshit as well."

"Very well, just understand that you're getting stronger." Obito gestured to them. "In the beginning, I'd come out of this with nary a scratch." he looked at his own body.

"Now I'm not."

Melanie and Miltia looked to one another before shrugging.

"I guess," Melanie responded, though he could catch the uplift of her lip.

"If you say so Red-Eye, I'm more than willing to believe THAT," Miltia was far more open with smiling about it.

"Good, though I have to wonder about what's going on right now," he said, only to see the twins frown.

"Things might be getting kind of… weird around here." Miltia began.

"Yeah, weird, more like fucking freaky." Melanie continued. "Word on the street is that some weird cult creeps have been seen moving about the city."

Obito listened with interest.

"So, and I'm not sure, this is coming from one of our guys, turns out the IronSights Gang has been moving things around in the west part of Vale."

'That's near the Academy.'

"So we don't have too much about it. Considering we're more near the south." the frowns on their faces grew deeper.

"But that's not the only thing that's been going in a shitty direction." Miltia continued. "IronSights has been making a lot of... " she twirled her right hand, opposite of the shoulder helping Melanie. "Risky moves." she finished.

"Yeah, and they've been _working_ which makes things weirder AND harder," Melanie growled.

"What kind of moves have they been making as of late?" Obito probed.

"For one, IronSights normally deals with weapons and machinery. We've made a couple deals with them in the past to outfit the boys."

"But that's about it. They don't normally go around stealing shit and destroying other gangs."

"I assume this is the cult business you've told me about?" Miltia nodded.

"Yeah, we're talking nothing unusual at first. Some dust here, some dust there." Melanie waved her hand side to side. "Nothing really that stood out… until they hit up some antique shop."

"They've been doing that a lot these past couple of months," Miltia added. "I'd say they've hit maybe all the shops in Vale and started moving up to weird places like Pawn Shops."

"But how does this tie in with this cult?"

"We're gettin' to that. Anyway, we had an information exchange with another family recently." the one dressed in white began.

"The Blue Collars," Miltia added.

"Yeah, we normally deal with them by adding to their manpower and ops for info that you usually look for. They told us that some new recruits that came into the IronSights were cultists."

"And not White Fang either." Miltia picked up. "We're talking actual cultists. Purple robes, necklaces, weird marks, the works." Miltia stated. "And apparently, one month after their orientation the IronSights took down the Grey Foxes."

"Normally, that wouldn't sound so bad. It happens all the times with the smaller gangs but that's not the only one they've overtaken these past months." Melanie said.

"The Poison Dam, Med Corpse, Mind Flayers, Iron Sandals, and even the recent White Coats," Miltia added, much to Obito's surprise.

"That's a lot of power shifting in too little time, isn't it?" the twins nodded, their expressions making more sense for the adopted Midoriya.

"And all over three months." Miltia's statement put the nail in the coffin

Gaining that much traction in the span of a couple of months was simply too outlandish for it to be normal.

'Cultists? What could they be doing that'd give IronSights this much power?'

"Thanks for the information you two." he ran a hand through his hair. "Let's go to Junior and get you two healed," he said, causing them to look at him confused.

"What about you?" Miltia said.

Obito blinked at the concern before allowing the seal to break on his wrist.

Black Aura ran down Obito's form, the bruises, that the twins could see, disappeared after a couple of seconds.

Their mouths dropped open.

Obito raised an eyebrow causing them both to blush.

Melanie couldn't help but state.

"You're some kind of monster, aren't you?"

The ninja shrugged.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Three weeks till graduation and he found himself, on his Sunday, walking through the city.

"Oh thank you young man." the old lady he'd walked to her house said. "Nowadays its a lot harder to move like I use to."

Handing her the groceries he was carrying, he bid her goodbye and found his way back to the streets of Vale proper.

'I'll need to find somewhere to study.' is what he thought as he traveled down the street, his bag strap arranged horizontally across his chest.

He stopped at a corner, eyes constantly moving, as he looked for a nice peaceful place to sit down and go over his notes.

"Obito?!" he heard from across the street before the sound of hurried steps jaywalked to his corner.

"I wasn't expecting to find you here in Vale with the whole Academy thing going on." the now identified Coco said. "You always seemed like the indoorsy type of civvie to me."

He turned to look at her and felt his mind blank.

* * *

" _Obito?" she said, her brown, shoulder-length hair shifting as she moved her head. "You okay?"_

" _Obito? Yo Obito!"_

* * *

"Wha-?"

"Man, you just zoned out on me out of nowhere?" Coco looked at him with a hint of concern. "You okay? I've never seen you wig out like that."

He looked at her for a couple more seconds before closing his eyes and letting out a long breath.

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I apologize." he started. "I've been studying more as of late and I might be dealing with some of the aftereffects of it."

"Hmm, no problem. I know what it's like to deal with cramming overnight." Coco replied.

He took an actual look at her and noted the dark brown boots, her dual crosshair belt, black slacks and light brown wool vest that left her navel bare and the upper part of her cle-

He pinched harder on his nose.

'God be damned hormones!'

Coco looked on with slight amusement.

"So what's up with you? On some sort of police adventure?"

"No, I'm merely looking for a calming place to sit and study."

"Well looks like you're in luck!" she grinned, getting a raised eyebrow out of Obito. "Because I know a place we can go."

'We?'

 _ **NRK**_

He sat down on the extended outside balcony of the store called "The Pallete" with a surprised expression.

He wasn't expecting for a place like this to be so quiet in the city of Vale.

"Pretty sweet huh?" Coco smiled, sitting across from him. "Since this place is near an unused back street there's not too many people around all the time."

He nodded before moving his bag and taking out his materials.

Coco watched as her male companion went about putting down his notebook, pen, and a smaller yellow book, on the table.

" _The Laws and Regulations of Vale_ , don't usually see it since sis keeps hers somewhere in her room," she said, causing Obito to look at her for a moment before he focused on his notes.

Coco blinked at the lack of response.

'Oh wow, I've never been blown off like that before.' she thought.

Though maybe being blown off wasn't the right phrase? She'd known Obito for, at most, half a year. He didn't seem like the chatty type even though his mom seemed so open to it.

She stared at him for a moment, that spiky black hair with that white bit over his right eye made for an eye-catching image. From what she understood, he was about two years older than she was, making him seventeen, though she couldn't be too sure about that.

He lifted his head, catching her eyes with his.

Dark silver eyes, huh?

Most people might not be able to tell the difference between a gunmetal grey and dark silver but she would boast her ability to differentiate between them.

Point being, she didn't meet many people with those colored eyes, as a matter of fact, she'd _never_ met someone with eyes like his. Hell, she'd seen SILVER eyes before but not ones like his?

"Coco?" Obito's voice pierced her thoughts like a bullet into Grimm causing her to jump.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry." she focused on steadying her hands, which were trying to find anything to do right now. "Yah, what's up?"

He looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "Nothing, I guess whatever it is passed." he finished without elaborating and returned back to his studies.

Coco just stared at him for a moment before relaxing in her seat and waving down a nearby waiter.

"Two coffees, one black," she looked at Obito. "And the other Affogato." the man left, leaving the two of them in silence.

Coco crossed her legs, arms folding in her lap, as she looked out over the balcony into Vale.

It was about 1 pm and she couldn't help but enjoy the rays of sunshine that hit the corners of the buildings.

She smiled.

Obito turned the page of his notebook before looking up. He wasn't sure what to expect but he wasn't expecting Coco to be smiling.

He wondered what she was smiling about. He looked to the side of the balcony and simply watched the city move by.

He felt the wind tussle his hair, pushing his locks into view and causing him to turn back to the table before he froze.

He could see the purple marks on her cheeks as she smiled at moving cars. Minato-sensei and Bakashi sat at an adjacent table, all of them looking out into the calm sunlight.

A "clink" broke him from his reverie as a waiter came to the table and lowered two beverages before leaving with a nod.

Obito blinked.

"Oh, they're here," Coco announced causing him to turn to her.

"You ordered these? When?"

"What do you mean?" she looked at him with a raised brow. "I ordered for us earlier." she looked surprised before grinning. "You were so caught up you didn't even notice?"

He rolled his eyes and looked at the coffee.

Coco picked the one with the swirling brown top and gave him a look.

He picked his up and looked into its dark depths.

"It's black. I didn't know what you wanted, so I went with what I thought was a good starter."

"Hmm." he took a sip and grimaced for a moment before he smelled it.

Its bitter taste was something he wasn't expecting. He'd never drank coffee back in the Elemental Nations. Simply never wanted to partake in it or alcohol.

A well-kept mind created the most elaborate plans, as Madara would say.

He looked at Coco who he could see watching him over the rim of her own coffee.

At the table was salt and sugars of various types.

He grabbed the salt and Coco's eyes widened as Obito took a couple of shakes of it before drinking the coffee again.

He didn't make a face this time much to her horror.

"I guess coffee isn't so bad."

In what world did people who drink salty coffee EXIST?!

They spent their time like that. Coco watching this monster across from her as he desecrated coffee for his sick gain and Obito keeping an eye on Coco for her rather amusing expressions at his new gained preference for coffee.

By the time their stay there finished, Obito felt better about where they came and Coco simply learned Obito was a heathen.

Watching Coco pay the bill, he packed up his things and prepared to go.

Waiting with the girl as the waiter returned and gave her back her card.

A dark brown card with a gold crown on it.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Three in the afternoon, Coco had left earlier to go and bother Ochre so he found himself on his own as he made his way back the Academy.

'This wasn't… unpleasant.' he couldn't help but state as he passed a nearby crossway. He stopped by a bench and sat down, waiting for a bus.

He set his bag beside him and looked across the street.

" _Construction site ahead, Authorized Personnel Only"_

He looked passed it to a random girl with long blonde hair passing by before catching sight of the sign behind her.

 _Grand Obsidian Museum coming to Vale soon! Come view findings by notable explorers and historians such as Dr. Oobleck!_

He read it once and felt an itch at the sign.

Something about the sign was hitting him. It was on the tip of his tongue as he tried to figure out why this bothered him.

'Museums?' he thought. 'Why is this bothering me?'

He'd have to figure it out later.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"So this is your last night before you're a big bad policeman, huh?"

"Don't sound so put out Junior."

Obito found himself back at The Club once more, on his last Sunday of the Academy.

Strange how time just seemed to fly by.

"Well, you're always welcome around here Red-Eye, don't take that lightly," Junior said, pouring the teen another cup of his Mistrali Aureo. "Though, do you even know what kind of hours you're going to be workin'?"

Obito "Red-Eye" Midoriya shrugged, idly shaking his small sake cup. "It depends on how they arrange us. Since it's an all around the clock job I could be working from anywhere from day to night." he downed the sake before he frowned.

He pulled his hood up a little more.

"Hey Junior~! How 'bout you set me up with something smooth, huh?" Obito could see Junior roll his eyes but reach underneath the counter and begin mixing something up.

"Oh? Who's this?" the Midoriya heard the curious inflection in the newcomer's voice from his left. A squeaking sound emitted from the voice's location, telling him whoever it was sat down.

Obito's eyes widened.

"I didn't know you were seeing other people Junior." the voice said.

"Shove it Torchwick, what do ya want?"

Roman Torchwick? As in, the new crook that's been on all the recent news for his thievery?

Joy.

"Nothing this time, just returning some of your boys from my latest trip through the nightlife of Vale." Obito could feel the smug in Roman's voice. "I'm actually staying low, for now, wouldn't want the public having TOO much of a good thing."

"Good thing like a tumor but sure." Junior finished making Roman's drink and passed it to the thief.

Obito stilled, setting down his cup.

Before immediately lashing out to his right, his hand seemed to break through "something" and latched onto the person to his side.

Mismatched eyes looked at him in shock with a paling complexion, freezing in his grip, as he heard a choking sound from his left.

Obito's eyes flared red, capturing the small women in his gaze before turning back to his cup as she sat there dazed.

Junior fought to keep his cup in his hand before calming down and glaring at Torchwick who was sputtering.

"What? How?!" he looked at the guy next to him before he caught Junior's glare. "N-Now Junior, I'm not up to anything, my," Roman twirled his hand. "Associate was simply interested in our mutual friend here."

" **Bullshit** " came a pair of voices behind him, causing Roman to jump before turning around to be confronted by both Melanie and Miltia.

The two _real_ bodyguards of The Club stared him down before moving behind the bar and sitting on the stools behind the counter.

Coincidentally, right in front of this person of Roman's interest, causing Roman's eye to twitch.

He sighed before waving his gloved hands in defeat.

"Alright, alright! I give! I'll stop trying to look at our friend here." Roman huffed. "Seriously? I've been around for longer than this guy and _I_ get the brush off?"

"Roman, you come, take my men, and _maybe_ bring them back." Junior listed off. 'In what world do we have a _good_ business relationship?"

"When I give you some of my spoils?"

"Men aren't just dropping off the street, _Roman_ ," Junior emphasized. "You might not realize it but not every Dick and Harry who walks through that door is gonna be tightlipp-"

The door to The Club slammed open.

While it wasn't the loudest noise in the room, it was loud enough for those at the bar, which was situated nearest the door, to snap their heads in its direction.

The lot of them watched as dark-skinned woman waltz over to their spot, Junior's men lay on the floor at the entrance, allowing in a mockery of party-goers.

She didn't seem like a huntress, that Obito could see, as the woman walked over to them.

Her movements were robotic and the sweats and hoodie she wore didn't hide the IronSights tattoo on her forehead.

Junior's hands clenched and the twins' eyes narrowed, Miltia's hands securing her claws.

"You must be Junior," she spoke, surprising them all by how _distorted_ it sounded. Like an extra voice that lagged behind by barely half-a-second but was still noticeable.

"The hell is IronSights doing on my turf?" Junior walked around the counter and began to walk to the woman before he found a hand on his chest.

Roman narrowed his eyes before shaking his head at the club owner. his companion, now snapped out of her stupor by a snapped from Obito's fingers, looked around in surprise, before reading the room.

Even while not knowing what was going on, she could see Roman's tilt of his chin and focused on this weird woman who showed up.

Obito had turned around in his seat, eyes on the woman, before his eyes widened as his Sharingan sprung to life.

'What?!' he couldn't help but think as his doujutsu came to the forefront of its own volition.

He reached a hand to his hand before it froze, along with the rest of his body, as he saw 'what' was on this woman's body.

A skeleton. There was a skeleton latching onto her forehead, where her tattoo was, and it was colored purple.

It was like looking at the first stage of Sasuke's Susanoo but miniature.

What the hell was going on?

She chuckled. "Why, why else?" her gold eyes seemed to burn an eerie yellow. "IronSights has decided to start, hmm, _appropriating_ The Club's space for our needs."

"It's such a nice space to have." she continued. "Be a shame if blood got all over it, no?"

She tilted her head.

Melanie already sprung into action as her foot aimed for the gang member's head.

The IronSights member grabbed Melanie's leg before twisting and tossing her across the dance floor, scaring the customers.

The white dressed girl recovered mid-air before landing. She raised her right knee to block the punch intruding woman. Melanie swung the knee to her right before quickly switching legs and shooting out with her left.

Her weaponized heel slammed into the woman's raised guard, slamming into her crossed forearms and slamming them into her head.

Her opponent off balance Melanie slammed a leg into her enemy's side, sending her speeding across the floor before she skid to a stop, motionless.

Melanie looked at the woman for a moment before scoffing.

"Really? That's ALL you could do?" the white dressed bouncer shook her head. "This isn't even worth the training.

The tattoo on IronSights member's head burst to life, purple energy smothering the body of the woman.

Obito's eyes widened as the skeleton grew, horns beginning to grow before they curled, its rib cage growing. The skeleton released its hold on the woman's tattoo and floated above her, its spine connecting to the back of her head.

Obito was up and across the room as the woman's body blurred towards Melanie.

His hand lashed out and grabbed ahold of the woman's wrist, her hand centimeters away from Melanie's widened eye.

The white-dressed twin fell back on her ass as she brought a hand up to her eye and gasped as she felt blood around it.

She watched as Red-Eye spun once before tossing the woman across the room. The bitch actually recovered mid-air before landing crouched.

That stupid tattoo of hers began to explode in a purple color as her hood fell off.

She stared and she felt like Red-Eye did as well.

What the fuck was up with this bitch's eyes?!

Obito stared at the woman with a clench of his hands.

Red pupilless eyes on black sclera stared back at him. That skeleton even seemed to crouch over her and stared him down.

"Melanie you need to get back, there's something wrong with this woman," Obito said.

"Yeah, no shit," Melanie got to her feet. She looked to the side where Miltia stood.

The twin in red caught her eyes and narrowed her own, tilting her head towards the gang member.

Melanie shook her head before her eyes glowed.

Miltia nodded, eyes glowing as well, as she backed down.

"I'm not leaving Red-Eye," she said, much to Obito's consternation.

He looked at her for a moment, noting her bright eyes, before nodded.

"Very well, keep an eye out for anything amiss." his Aura sprung to life before it sunk into his body. "I'm sure she has more up her sleeve."

His piece said he dashed to the woman, Melanie lagging behind.

They collided, Obito's foot with the skeleton-manned woman's right arm. Flipping back, he sent two punches to her chest and head.

She blocked the chest shot with both arms but wouldn't be able to catch his headshot.

Which made this all the more confusing when his punch was stopped by the _skeleton._

Melanie's eyes widened before she jumped over Red-Eye and sent a kick towards the woman's forehead. It was like hittign and being held by some invisible wall.

Her foot caught, both Melanie and Obito were flung across the room, vacating the rest of party-goers, as they crashed through the towers of glass in The Club.

"The hell is stopping me?!"

"It's some sort giant skeleton."

"What?"

* * *

"What?" Miltia said, causing those around her to look at her confused.

"Miltia, what'd they say?" Junior said, in his hands was his trusty bat, a long silver steel bat that he'd had for as long as his tenure as a gang leader.

"Red-Eye says that there's some giant skeleton around that bitch over there." she shrugged. "I'm not sure how he's the only one seeing it."

Roman looked at his companion who shook her head, causing him to grimace.

"So what's going on here Cocktail 2?" Miltia sent Roman a glare. "Gods, fine, not right now. But seriously, what's going on?"

* * *

He jumped in the fray once more, a dagger in hand via a small Kamui.

He approached with a dash, slashing at the IronSights member diagonally which she backed away from before stepping forward with a horizontal sweep that she barely bent back to dodge.

His foot moved forward, clipping behind her heel and pulling, tripping her. He moved to take advantage but jumped back to avoid the fist of the skeleton that crashed the floor where he'd just stood to dust.

Sliding back a bit, he noticed Melanie to his side who looked on with rising comprehension as they all surveyed the now visible evidence of _something_ being there.

"Okay, so I believe you now," Melanie said, coming to terms with this apparent "invisible" giant skeleton. "Where do we go from here?"

There were sirens that caught the attention of all in the room. The whirling red and blue lights that flashed on the windows told Roman it was time to go.

"Well, Junior it's been fun but I and my compatriot here need to go!" Roman said quickly, ushering his little lady friend through the back doors.

Obito and Melanie looked at the intruder with a sense of finality.

"It's the end of the line. Give up now."

"Damn right. Time's up, bitch." Melanie couldn't have enjoyed those words more.

Obito felt his eyes narrow as the IronSights gang member looked towards the flashing lights.

Then her gaze went lower.

Obito's eyes widened and both the adopted Midoriya and gang member moved at the same time.

Junior was confused as he found the woman knocking a gun at his head before a flash of black was in front of him.

Obito looked her in the eyes, her red against his own before she grinned and pulled the hammer back.

The gun turned inward and fired.

The blood splattered everywhere along the bar and Obito had enough time to cover his face and allow his attire to take the blotches and mess of blood, bone and grey matter.

"Holy, fucking, shit!" Miltia had been lucky enough to jump back, only getting the bare minimum on her shoes.

"What the _actual FUCK_ is going on here?!"

Obito frowned, as he looked at the area where the corpse now lay.

His eyes went wide as his Sharingan sprung to life and he grit his teeth.

"I don't think this is even close to the beginning."

 _ **~NRK~**_

Ozpin frowned as he read the news.

While he had little stake in the undergoings of the southern part of Vale, he wasn't one who ignored all the workings of the city itself.

" _Female Gang Member Shoots up The Club Before Suiciding_ ," he retread on the title and frown.

What a particular thing to happen but it wasn't THAT unusual… And yet it was. Gangs didn't exactly leave this much evidence if they were making a move.

Not unless it was something BIG, which now meant it had his attention.

Putting down the newspaper, he turned on his computer monitor, the screen spring to life in the middle of his desk.

Tapping on several applications he finished with one final press.

-Oz? What's happening?-

"Yes, Qrow, I believe you may need to expedite finding Amber and bring her home." Ozpin looked at the newspaper one more time.

"I fear I might need your skills here in Vale."

The less fear within the populace the better. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that if any conspiracy theorist on the CCT Network to work the people into a rage.

Much worse if those theories turn out to be _true_ in which more unease will spread among the populace.

Better to be ignorant, with the state of the world the way it is.

With Qrow here, it'd be easier for him to keep an eye on things down "below".

Especially why he felt _magic_ anywhere in Vale.

 _ **~NRK~**_

His purple robed disciples moved about in their new base thanks to the White Coats. He smiled to himself before he entered deeper into this new location.

"Ahhhh help me!"

"You sonuvva-"

"Pleee-a-ssssw"

He smiled as he passed the Halls of Conversion, each member of the White Coats being personally converted into their ranks.

'Oh my Brother in waiting, please ascend these inferior bodies through the World's predecessors.'

He prayed for these unfortunate souls as he passed before he entered another corridor that led to a staircase that went underground.

Going down the steps he entered an open chamber where more apostles were moving to and fro, carrying items they'd repossessed from the inferior stock of this fine city.

Each item they'd found had to be sorted, checked and reaffirmed of its quality and potential.

'This city…. Such a place full of magnificent treasures and the people see and waste their potential.'

He came to a stop and breathed out.

'No matter, they WILL see so eventually.' he thought with some cheer.

He entered a final corridor, the sound of pulsing rang throughout the room as he came to a stop.

In that room, pulsing purple lines ran up and over the area before converging on a singular point.

A throne, a throne made of gold and obsidian that melded with the floor.

Atop that throne sat a giant of a man with bronze skin, red rooster-shaped hair, and a pronounced nose. On his forehead sat an "X"-shaped scar and his beady eyes were the slightest hints of green.

The man grinned at him, as he rest his cheek on his fist, the man's blue and gold gauntlets shined in the limited light in the room as his chest flexed beneath his white muscle shirt.

"Negranle, you didn't tell me I'd feel so," his grin nearly burst around his face as he looked at his left hand. "Powerful." he hissed in delight.

That bear-like hand clench as his veins shone with purple color as it circulated around his body.

"I see that you are developing well, Collbrand," Negrandle said as he watched the IronSights leader relax back into his throne. "I'll have you know that we're progressing at a magnificent pace with the gang acquisition."

"We've already gained an approximate of 7 total gang followers." Negrandle glowed. "Little they may be but we've already acquired some interesting artifacts since the takeover of White Coats."

Collbrand frowned as he tapped his fingers on the throne's armrest.

"We might need to slow down, we don't want to catch the attention of the populace so quickly," he said as he realized how sketchy their current situation would turn out if all of Vale took notice.

Negrandle winced, catching Collbrand's attention before he sighed.

"We… might have some PR to deal with." the IronSights leader's eyebrow began to twitch.

"What happened?"

 _ **~NRK~**_

" _Hello, and welcome to the celebration."_

She blocked out the rest of the noise, mind more focused on finding that cadet before all the other sectors could find him. The usual fanfare around these occasions never really meshed well with her.

Passing under another banner, she ignored the words plastered on it that said "Graduating Ceremony".

She smiled.

It just went to show what kind of things can happen when life throws some random kid your way.

She looked around, dark brown hair jumping between her glasses as purple eyes searched the crowd.

"Come on, it can't be this hard to find Obito, can it?" a voice at her side asked as she tried to ignore Coco.

Thinking about it, she smiled and closed her eyes and listened for that distinct-

"Obitooooooo~ uhn, My baby!~"

"You're police guy now!"

She didn't have to wait long it seemed, as she walked towards the sounds leaving Coco to catch up.

Coming upon the Midoriya family, she was witnessed to deja vu as she watched Obito try to calm his mother and little brother.

"Mother please." is what the adopted child said before he noticed the approach of Coco and Ochre.

For the first time, Coco actually saw a slight smile on Obito's face, causing her mouth to drop.

Seeing this, Obito raised an eyebrow before Ochre took his focus.

"Congratulations," she held out a hand, his lips lifted at the corners.

"Thank you," Obito replied, taking that hand.

"It's a pleasure to work with you Obito."

"Thanks, same to you Ochre"

"Uh! It's so beautiful!" they looked Coco's way, giving her the stink-eye to which she stopped her little drama.

"Okay, okay, we're all friends and family here. No need to kill the jester."

Ochre pinched the bridge of her nose as Obito rolled his eyes before he noticed something.

Noticing Obito looking at her, she grinned.

"Like what you see?"

His flat look was telling. "Just noticing you've dyed your hair."

True it was, as a single strand by her right eye was a bright yellow in comparison to her brown hair.

She looked surprised before grinning.

"Yeah, I decided to change it up a bit."

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **And there it is, the conclusion to the first Arc, which is basically called: "Welcome to Vale Obito" Arc.**_

 _ **Not the best name but it's the objective.**_

 _ **Nothing really to say here, considering that there's no RWBY for a good bit. Though I've seen videos on how Miles reacts to criticism and can't be holding out too much faith for the future if he can't pull his shit together.**_

 _ **My piece said, stay tuned for the next chapter.**_

 _ **Adios!**_


	4. Bigger Mess

_**Welcome to the fourth of what I hope is many chapters for this story.**_

 _ **All in all, the reception to chapter 3 was average and that's fine by me, we ARE still in the beginning of setting up the characters and plot points.**_

 _ **Personal Chapter Review:**_

 _ **We also start Obito's tenure as a cop, for as much of it we see, and this arc, I'm predicting, will go from 10 to 13 chapters before we hit the next one.**_

 _ **I've come to a startling conclusion that if these were the actual first three chapters of a book, it'd be considered too slow, slow burn be damned.**_

 _ **So I'm going to be picking up the pace a bit since we've established enough support to make my next few moves.**_

 _ **Also, I'm sorry for the delays.**_

 _ **P.S. I've been looking for well over a week, how many officers does a specific division of law enforcement hire every year/6 months?**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

She stared out at the decrepit landscape she'd called her home for the past millennia. Dark red, purple, and black bleed into and from everything.

A vapid plain with no life on it.

No animals.

No plant life of worth to the world.

No _people_.

None that she hadn't brought onto this isle herself.

"Mistress~" she heard behind her, turning to the voice to address one of her "brought people".

Tyrian Callows, he'd been an addition she wasn't sure how to feel about.

Tyrian was odd in his utter reverence to her, not unwelcomed of course, but still baffling on a fundamental level.

She wasn't sure how Grimm destroying a village had brought him to her side but she wasn't complaining. He'd been a valuable asset for over a decade and only continued to present himself to her whims.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure about the girl still?" he said, long facial features twisting into a slight grimace at the mentioning of their _other_ recent add-on.

"Yes. I thought you were unbothered by Cinder's presence?" she asked, yet Tyrian's eyes went wide and he bowed lower.

"I mean nothing by it, my Queen!" he proclaimed, face close to the ground. "It's just…" he trailed off but she knew what he meant.

Cinder was younger than the rest of them by a fair margin. She'd not killed anyone of notable worth. Even more, she'd gone out of her way and brought two more into the fold.

A bold move for one who she'd taken under her wing but it was of no difference. Cinder knew her place and wanted everything that Salem could offer.

Easy to control.

"I can understand why you might be a little bit skeptical," with a wave of her hand Tyrian stood and saluted her. "But it's expected. Cinder is simply testing the reach of her new abilities."

She paused for a moment before her lips tilted.

It was one of the most beautiful things Tyrian had ever had the grace of seeing.

"And of the Maiden?"

"With time, last we heard she was traveling around Sanus, so locating her will be of utmost importance once Cinder is done in Vale." Salem turned to the glass panes, looking out at the lands below before focusing further.

Further in the direction of Vale.

'Even without the Relics, why have you returned?'

Cinder would report everything once she returned.

"Have you honestly not noticed Tyrian? About how Cinder goes about doing things?" she chuckled, turning back to her windows.

"She's doing everything to be like me."

 _ **~NRK~**_

He turned on the bed, eyes slowly opening before he began to get up.

Obito 'Uchiha' Midoriya sat up from his sleeping grave and slowly extricated himself from it.

'I wonder what I'll have before work.' he thought as he finished getting his morning routine out of the way and found himself in his kitchen.

He closed the door to the fridge, arms full of tomatoes, eggs, and cheese.

"An omelet will suffice."

He set himself up and went to work, his mind wandering as he began to cook away the morning.

He flipped over the omelet and placed it on a paper plate.

He eyed the clock.

He had an hour to go down to the station.

He'd need to move apartments, nice as this one was, he wouldn't live off his father's money.

He'd get his own apartment come the end of the month.

Finishing up his meal, he turned to his uniform.

He put on the light blue dress shirt and rolled the sleeves up to his biceps, putting on the black slacks. He reached around and connected the suspenders to his front.

Police standard shoes, he put them on at the entrance.

Time to get to work.

 _ **~NRK~**_

She stared at the floor as the giant mechanical Grimm reset back to its resting position, eyes to the floor as she realized how bad this had gone.

"I'm sure you all will learn from 's mistakes as a lesson in planning, on the fly strategic thinking, and comrade placement."

She could barely hear the instructor as the rest of her "team" picked themselves up from the ground.

"Coco, what the fuckkkkssssss," a male teammate hissed as he hit the floor again, glaring at her. "I thought you were supposed to be hot shit."

"What happened?!"

Her 'team' was removed from the arena before being replaced by another.

She'd quickly excused herself, running down the hallway to the nearest bathroom.

'Okay… how are things really going?' was a question she asked herself but she frowned when she already knew the answer.

'I suck.'

And it _showed_ , especially with these last two days of Teamwork and Strategy classes she'd signed up for.

Coordination against groups, large Grimm, and strategic environment advantage.

She grabbed her head.

All fucking _FAILURES!_ What the hell was even going on?!

"Hey, Coe! What the crap happened out there?"

Coco sighed.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Ochre was waiting for him at the doors to the police station.

"Good morning Midoriya," they shook hands. "Since I'm the one who brought you specifically, I'll be the one showing you around with some of the other cadets," she said, leading him through the sliding doors.

When he stepped into his place of work for the foreseeable future, he came face to face with many coworkers he'd be working with in the future.

"H-Hey, um?" Obito turned to the side, where a familiar Faunus cadet greeted him with a shaky smile. Obito raised a brow before nodding to him.

"Good morning," he said leaving the cadet a bit surprised before he smiled.

Brown skin, red eyes, and dark brown hair that curled around his forehead. The young male was possibly 18 or 19, depending and he was built lean and about Obito's own height making him about 5'6.

Wearing the same blue officer uniform as himself, to Obito, he cut an average figure. Like most Faunus, he probably excelled in some physical specialty. Seeing his arms, Obito assumed that he worked well in hand-to-hand.

Zeroing in on the back of his hands, he saw some scarring around his wrists he couldn't help but feel looked familiar.

"Um, yeah… Thanks by the way., for your help back then," the Faunus said, extending a hand. "Oh, right, my name is Marrone Celeste."

The adopted Midoriya grasped the offered hand with his own and shook it.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance."

* * *

He fell in line with the other cadets as they were shown all the specifics of the Vale Western Police Department or VWPD for short.

They passed the Crime Lab, Drug Squad, Criminal Investigations, Serious Organized Crime Agency(SOCA), and many more.

They'd been briefed on it beforehand but many of the new officers looked around at it all.

Standing next to Marrone, Obito took it all in before catching the expression on the Faunus's face when they passed SOCA.

Marrone's eyes narrowed before he looked all over the room.

The Faunus had done this before when they'd passed Criminal Investigations and the Crime Lab.

Coming to a stop where they'd all began, there was a new face at the lobby area.

A gruff looking older gentleman. Dark orange, combed back hair, with a single strand falling between his brown eyes, wrinkles danced across peach skin.

A tan dress shirt, with a dark brown suit with the front of the jacket open, Ochre brought the recruits over to the now staring man.

"Adel?" he blinked a few times before sighing and pinching the space between his eyes.

"I see sleep isn't your friend again, detective Gordon."

"Cram it, kid." he blinked his eyes a few more times behind his square glasses and groaned. "My wife is gonna kill me."

"Better her than work." Ochre replied with a slight smile.

James Gordon was a very respectable man in her eyes. Stern, disciplined, strict, and most of all…

"Oh, good morning Ms. Adel."

Married.

Ochre's eye twitch as Gordon's lips turned into a smile. Turning to the side, she and the new personnel found herself facing a newcomer.

Obito's eyes went wide.

The tan-skinned man smiled gently at them as he looked at the recruits. Dark hair was tied into a ponytail with the edges of it sloping to his left. A tattoo actually sat on the bridge of his nose, surprising some the recruits.

He was wearing the male version of the uniform Ochre was wearing, with dark slacks instead of her skirt and his long sleeve, dark blue dress shirt had its long sleeves rolled up to the midpoint of his forearm.

'Fuck, it's Iruka.'

And wasn't _this_ a wonderful development! Though this left him with a sense of unease.

Who else was "here"?

"Iruka, I thought you were taking off time since you finished teaching this semester." Ochre said, body rigid much to her chagrin.

James seemed beyond amused.

"I wanted to ask if anyone needed anything done before I took the day off."

"Quite," she answered, arms at her sides with her hands tapping her skirt.

Damn him!

"Speaking of, Adel here," James grinned at her look of utter shock. "Is showing off some new recruits. I'm sure she could use some help with handling their grouping."

"Might need to spend some time over the week to fully sort them out."

He'd be six feet under if Ochre could will her eyes to do it.

"Really?" Iruka Umino looked surprised but he smiled again. "I can help, starting tomorrow."

He grinned and Ochre's chest was close to bursting.

There were two similar thoughts in the room.

' **Why did it have to be** _ **Iruka**_ **?'**

* * *

They stood in a line, all 21 of them as Ochre, Iruka, and a set of other cops, spoke to each other in a corner away.

Obito watched them with fierce intensity, waiting for that one moment where Iruka gave him a Thousand Yard Stare.

It never came but he was prepared for it.

Finished in the corner, they all came for them.

"So, since we're shockingly short on Field Training Officers (FTO) today," Ochre stressed, looking at a couple of empty desks. "We'll be taking you in groups of three."

At this admission, the cadets blinked before returning to their standing positions.

"Midoriya, Celeste, Carmel, you're with me."

Stepping forward, Obito caught eyes with Marrone who grinned and another Faunus woman who looked at him with sparkles in her eyes.

He sighed as she spoke.

"As of today, you'll be recognized as Team 7."

Of course, they were.

* * *

He sat behind the wheel as they turned the corner before he came to a stop at Bakers street.

"Alright Midoriya, Celeste you're next." Ochre said, looking down at her clipboard.

"On it," Marrone replied with a smirk before switching places with Obito.

The adopted Branwen tucked himself into the back and they took off with the male Faunus at the wheel.

He looked outside the window before feeling a tap on his shoulder.

He turned to the female Faunus in the vehicle.

Blonde with two dog ears of the same color, pale skin, pink eyes, and a more round face. She wore the short sleeved version of the uniform dress shirt, revealing slender arms with scarring near the elbow.

It probably went up to her bicep as well, also calling his attention to her left dog ear where he could see another scar.

It all took a second but she stared at him before slightly pulling on her sleeves.

"Yes?" he looked her in the eye. A dash of color ran along her cheeks before smiling at him.

"It's nice to meet you!" she smiled brightly at him, hand out to which he shook."I'm Liza Carmel, and can I just say it's an honor to work with you?" the stars returned to her eyes and he frowned.

"I'm not following."

"You were the most impressive person in the Academy." Liza's ears stood at attention. "The perfect grade, the best at hand-to-hand, weaponry, law and code!" she listed off, causing him to stare at her. "And you're one of the most polite people at the Academy! Humans that stand up for us are kinda." she seesawed her hand.

He understood but was all the more bemused by it.

What was so great about all of that? He'd done nothing that stood out to him..

That couldn't possibly be all of it, right?

He saw her stop talking and just stared for a moment. She sat there, looking back at him with stars in her eyes.

"..."

"..."

'... Oh, Kami she's being serious.' he figured out.

'Come on Uchiha, just accept it. Nothing wrong with taking the gratitude.'

"...Right, thank you?"

Liza nodded her head furiously.

"Alright you crazy kids, we're stopping." Obito rolled his eyes at Marrone as the young man smirked at him.

Great, he had a playful streak. This was going to go well.

Turning to the front of the vehicle, both adopted Midoriya and Carmel noticed they'd stopped at a corner.

"Switch up."

* * *

With Ochre back in the driver's seat, the three of them watched the world outside pass them by before a sound from the front caused the new officers to pay attention.

It was another car, broken down on the side of the road, flagging the police car with a waving hand out the driver's window.

Coming to a stop with a frown, Ochre and her trainees stepped out of the police car.

Ochre walked up to the front of the broken down vehicle, peering into the driver seat before her frown became more prominent.

"OCCHIE!" a voice exclaimed as Ochre squeezed the bridge of her nose.

"Huh?" Marrone said, his eyes wide as Liza looked on with a tilt of her head and Obito raised a brow.

"Uuuggh," Ochre groaned before she glared at the driver sit. " _Larry_ , why is it always you?"

"Oh come on, Occhie!" this "Larry" said from his car. "I need you in my time of need. DOn't leave me hanging man!"

Ochre let out a sigh, expression dropping.

"Larry" let out a whoop before exiting his vehicle.

Larry was a little bit taller than himself, Obito thought, with possibly four to five years older than himself.

Brown hair that went up in a large soft spike, the rest resting on the sides of his head, Larry looked on with happiness in his brown eyes.

An orange jacket, white shirt with talking heads on it, and khaki pants leading into white shoes finished off his ensemble.

He looked remarkably unreliable.

"Larry, what'd you get into now?" Ochre said, looking at his unmoving vehicle.

"Occhie! Don't be like that!" Larry scratched the back of his head with a grumble.

Ochre gave him a skeptical look before Larry shook his head vehemently.

"Look, I was just going through taking my car to fixers, right? And all of a sudden, CLONK, CHROOM, KAPOW, and my car's totaled!" Larry cried as he looked at his baby. "We've been through so much together!"

Marrone snickered. "I like him already."

"Isn't it weird that knows someone like him?" Liza commented, getting a grunt of confirmation from Obito while Marrone just nodded.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?!" Larry yelled, causing Liza to hide behind her male partners.

"A-Ah ha… apologies!" receiving his forgiveness seemed to be easy as Larry's face went from enraged to laid-back, a goofy smile on his face.

"Ah, no problem. Occhie does seem pretty high class." Coming up to him, they met eye to eye with Larry who gave them all a look over.

"Wait… we had _new recruits_?!"

"Yes, we did." Ochre flatly responded.

Larry looked at the two Faunus and human before swaggering on up to Liza.

"Welcome to the police force newbies! I'm your senior officer Larry Aqua Butz."

Marrone barely held in his snort.

"Larry!"

"Right, I forgot."

The next twenty minutes found the trio of new officers audience to Larry, called the tow truck, arguing with the guy driving the said truck over the price, and flailing as Ochre began choking him.

Thirty mins later in total and Larry was prepared to leave.

"Oh right!" he exclaimed, causing Ochre, Liza, and Marrone, to jump before he shot into the back of his car.

He quickly retrieved four rolled up pieces of paper from the back of his car, yelling with the tow truck driver and quickly rushing over to Ochre's group.

"Here, one for each of ya," he smiled as he passed them out. "I've got buddies in the history department of the city and they gave me these free invites for the first to come in," he grinned.

"If you've been noticing, I've got y bud on someone of the billboards."

'Oobleck?' what a weird companion for a historian/archeologist but it wasn't his business.

"I'll see you guys later!" he said, leaving with the truck.

* * *

He walked to the front desk, adjusting his dark hoodie before reaching the receptionist.

A bland looking woman with black eyes and neat brown hair.

She looked at him with contempt before scoffing.

"How may I help you," she droned, eyes squinting at him causing the adopted Midoriya to roll his eyes.

"I'm looking for my little cousin." he pulled out a small photo of a small girl with short black hair and green eyes. "I heard she was staying here. Her name's Meltia, Meltia Jr. to be more specific."

She looked at him for a moment.

"She is supposed in room 314."

Sighing, the woman turned to the phone near the back before making a call.

Several moments later, she ended the call before annoyingly answering his request.

"Room 314," she dropped it in his palm. "Good luck."

She'd gone back to her station, looking the same.

He nodded before walking down the left corridor beside her and stopped in front of the elevator.

He took a left and went up the stairs before exiting on the fourth flight.

'413, 413, ah here it is.'

He pushed in the key and stopped. He hummed for a moment before knocking on the doors lower frame before opening it entirely and quickly shutting it closed.

"Hey Red-Eye, what's up?" he heard before he took off his hoodie, revealing the purple shirt underneath.

After he hung it up by the door, Obito turned to see both Melanie and Miltia on one of the two large beds in the room.

In matching t-shirts and sweats, white and red for Melanie and Miltia respectively, they laid on the bed before turning their heads at his entrance.

"Hello, Junior's here I'd assume?" Obito said before taking a seat near the bed, ignoring Melanie's patting hand on the bed beside her.

Huffing, she tilted her head to the windows where they could see the other tower of the hotel.

"He's out talking to Roman two floors up in the other tower," Melanie shrugged before looking at her Scroll again.

Obito nodded before he turned the chair to the windows and waited.

'I'm not sure how to go about this.' he couldn't help but think.

The normal course of action was for him to perform reconnaissance and deal with this as he'd done with so many gangs in the past.

He'd run the Akatsuki, a world-renowned organization, and that put into perspective this whole situation.

This was gang-related and that made this more complicated.

It was obvious that the moment he decided to attack the IronSights Gang and took them down he'd be dealing with Junior's problems.

Him taking down IronSights would mean that other gangs knew about "him" via the Red Axe Gang.

It'd be too coincidental for him to take them out now.

His presence in the underworld needed to stay unnoticed.

"-ye, Red-Eye!" he blinked before turning to Miltia.

The red-clothed twin looked at him worryingly before shaking her head.

"Junior's on his way up with Roman," she told him, right as a familiar set of knocks hit the door and the person outside opened it, all eyes on the entrance.

Junior walked in with a set of normal glasses, a long sleeve blue shirt and dark pants with brown dress shoes.

Obito frowned as he looked at Junior, his eyes going red before his dark silver pools returned.

So it was some sort of illusionary Semblance. A worrisome thing if you weren't paying attention.

Turning away from the door, Junior waited before the sound of shattering glass reached his ears, before Roman Torchwick and his little partner 'Neo' appeared near the corridor.

Looking to his girls he gestured to the windows.

"Lock those down, it's time to figure this shit out."

* * *

They'd sued the beds as seating.

Junior and the Malachite Twins on one with Roman and Neo on the other.

Obito saw fit to bring his chair in between both, his back to the windows.

"Before we began, I've got another guy joining us." Junior tapped in a couple of numbers on the phone on the nightstand in between the beds before pushing the speaker button.

Several rings later, a man's voice picked up from the speakers.

-"...Blue in earnest, we deal in plateau, fields and swamps."-

"Keep it simple, I'm trying to purchase some blue grass. Low to the floor, and doesn't grow up to high."

\- "I'm assuming this is Junior?"-

"Yeah, it's me," Junior confirmed, those around him leaning forward as the chat began.

-"So from what we discussed before, I've been able to dig up some of the info from one of Mice."- The sound of flipping papers came from the phone.

-"Hmm."-

"What's up?"

-"Okay, so from what I'm looking at, one of the Mice was approached by some guy. Above average height guy in a white hoodie."- The group nodded. -"Yeah, a real piece of work, no real emotion and guy gave some… interesting information."- The man over the phone hesitated.

"Come on, continue!" Melanie exclaimed.

-"Fine, fine! Listen, the way it went down"- the man on the line sighed. - "They gave us information on groups of purple wearing guys gathering in weird places, alright! Real good info for us, since it doesn't just incriminate any gangs directly." -

Junior grinned. "That's the group." he looked to Obito. "It's time to get some sur-"

-"Junior!"- the Red Axe Gang leader startled at the shout.

-"Listen, this is a bit unprofessional of me but for the sake of business..."- he cleared his throat. -"I'm advising against trying to take this to them."-

Roman's eyes narrowed. "Sorry buddy, but that's not exactly something we can wait around on."

-"Roman TORCHWICK?! Junior?! What's actually going on over there?"-

"Let's call it a multi-party inclusion and leave it at that, huh?"

\- "... This can't possibly be good… tsk, whatever, what you need to do? Figure these guys out." -

* * *

He hid in the shadows on the roof of a nearby bakery. The building was rundown, broken walls, cracked glass windows, and eroded brick.

Obito looked down at his bare black cloak, the image of red clouds overlaying on it before he blinked and they were gone.

He sighed, 'to dawn this mask again.'

Over the hidden man's face was a mask, dark red in color with several spirals zoning in on his left eye and in his left ear was a mini-mic for contacting and receiving information from Junior.

He crouched behind a ventilation shaft, eying the space on the street down below.

This was one of the three spots that IronSights apparently began gathering at for the past half year.

The plan was to have him and Neo, Roman's silent companion, scope out the areas and see what was actually going on.

From the intel they'd received, this should afford them some kind of idea on what the hell was going on.

Steps echoed in the empty streets, so he realized he wouldn't be waiting long.

From his place on the rooftop of the bakery, he saw a small group of the IronSights.

Purple hoods and cloaks, as it were, and he noticed that, of the five of them, one had a different type.

Darker in color, with gold embroidery of a dragon on the back. Light purple lines spread down to each of the limbs of her cloak and her cloak cuffs were white.

His eyes went red, Sharingan activating, and they went wide.

The skeleton, unlike the one from before, was modified.

It was a darker purple, and unlike the one from before its body was smaller and more feminine.

It was like looking at a shadow, as it moved as the cloaked woman did, its _claw-like_ hands still and resting at its sides.

The form it took was worrying. A large tailbone that extended at least two meters from the body that seemed to connect at the lower back of the woman. The skeleton's head was more narrow, going from head to jaw.

And the horns on its head curled befor-

He _dragged_ his body back into the shadows as the skeleton turned its head in his direction. Eyes widened as he heard the woman stop talking.

"Hmm," he heard as the "CLACK" of her shoes echoed in the abandoned streets as a rumble of whispers filled the air.

"Hmmm, it seems we have company."

Obito cursed as his Sharingan sprung to life before he heard a third voice.

"You bitch! You think you can run into Red Axe territory and get away with it?!"

Obito cursed again.

"Oh? Are you here to offer yourselves up to-"

"Oh my God, shut the fuck up!"

The hidden teen moved towards the back of the bakery before sliding down a ladder and sticking to the corner of the building.

He peeked around the corner, catching sight of the group behind the woman in darker clothing.

He couldn't see their faces and, strangely enough, he didn't see any of the skeletons that the woman from the night before and the darker dressed one had.

He dashed pass behind the group, no one turning their heads to him as he did, save for one.

That skeleton _again_. He was feeling a sense of unease every time he looked at that thing. The fact that it could seemingly sense him but not the woman who wielded it set off alarms in his head.

He crept around the back of the group, arriving up top the empty store behind them.

There was a buzz in his ear as he tapped on the earpiece.

" _What's going on, Red-Eye?"_

"Junior, we have a problem," he responded before filling him in on the current situation.

Junior cursed over the connection. - _Fucking dumbasses! Congrats, you're not the FIRST one to give me more bad news right now._ -

The former Uchiha frowned.

"What do you-" "AAAAAARRHGG!"

A scream cut him off before he slipped to the edge of the rooftop before his eyes narrowed.

The man, pressed against the wall, screamed bloody murder as the woman strangled him, one arm to his neck as the other pressed against his stomach.

The cloaked woman frowned, "How fortunate, you're compatibility is passable."

She dropped him to the floor, the man spazzing about as purple vein-like lines ran about his body.

"Know that you will be a small part in a grander purpose," she said before looking around her.

Obito's eyes narrowed before the hairs on his neck stood on end. He leaped to the side, turning to see that damn skeleton behind him.

Silent, stealthy, and quick.

Just great.

He pulled a dark-colored knife from the confines of his cloak's sleeve and held it up to his chest.

Its head tilted, almost as if checking him over, before it fell, its shoulders slumping as it did.

That purple aura didn't seem to die down but it grew-!

"Fufufu, I didn't expect there to be another here." Obito heard behind him, causing him to blur across the roof where they stood to several rooftops away.

He landed on the edge of the taller building's roof, cloak settling a second later, staring at the two beings below.

'What was going on?' the Former ninja thought, eyes narrowed as a snarl formed upon his lips.

None of what had just happened made sense. No one in this world should have the ability to sneak up on him.

At least, not without a semblance. Was that what this was? A Semblance?

He brought out _his_ 'Madara'.

" _Who are you?"_ the cloaked woman heard, the hair on her neck stood up and she took a step back before stopping.

Red eyes looked down at the woman who froze for a moment before she… bowed?

"I apologize," she brought her head back up before she began to remove her hood.

At first, he'd thought she'd been a Faunus before realizing those 'horns' were hair resting on the sides of her head. Dark silver locks, caramel colored skin, a tall but slender build, all covered by a cloak.

Her eyes were what caught his attention.

Red, pupil-less, eyes with a black outer ring to the eyes. Different compared to the other one from the night before.

Perhaps there were levels? Pretty obvious comparing the brute-like skeleton from before to this feminine one.

Speaking of, the one before him began to walk towards his direction again before stopping at the outreaching arm from the now frowning woman.

"Contain yourself," she narrowed her eyes at the skeleton that stood stock still. "You'll do well to remember your place."

The skeleton's aura diminished before it took a few steps back.

Obito's right eyebrow rose.

'Perhaps it's not a usable puppet like I thought.' he had assumed it was moving to the user's will but that wasn't the case apparently.

Good information to have.

The woman recomposed herself, coughing into her hand once before looking at the mask with a smile.

Obito raised an eyebrow.

"A-As I was saying, I didn't mean to startle you." she bowed again. "I simply wasn't expecting someone of your caliber and potential," she said before holding a hand up.

His eyes went wide as dark purple and black energy spun to life in her palm before it dispersed, leaving a dark purple card in her hand.

She flicked the card in his direction, the former ninja catching it.

Turning it over, out of the corner of his eye, he noted the splayed out gold film-like tapestry on the card's back before he turned it over and saw those lines coalescing into a skeleton-esque skull in the center.

His eyes burned a hole into the little placard, Sharingan catching every inch of it before he looked back to the woman.

"To understand your place in this world, simply tap the badge on the from and swipe across the back," she gave him a look. "People like us are the only ones capable of doing so."

She curtsied at him, her hood putting itself back on, before raising a hand to the still skeleton to her side.

Its eyes glowed red before shifting to purple as its rib cage expanded before bursting open. A small shining light sparked from within its chest.

The woman gave him a smile before walking into the skeleton's rib embrace.

It _snapped_ close with a crack like a whip. The skeleton's chest shrunk before it began to fade.

" _We'll keep in touch, young man."_

Obito's eyes widened as the skeleton faded away.

His teeth clenched as he looked at the card again.

Its eyes glowed and he quickly tucked it into a seal on his wrist.

This wasn't good.

They weren't a gang.

They were an _organization_.

He looked to the streets and found it void of people. Both the woman's and Junior's.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Negrandle's eyes shot open.

How had he lost contact?!

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **And with that, we end the chapter on a mysterious note~ OOOOOOOOOoooooooohhhhhh~**_

 _ **Sorry about getting this out basically a quarter of the year later but I think I figured out that this story NEEDS to be outlined per chapter for me to make any progress as well as I'm trying to learn SAP.**_

 _ **Computer Guy stuff, so, my bad.**_

 _ **That said, I've already begun to outline Chapter 6 and I've updated the Summary to reflect how this story's character use is gonna be like.**_

 _ **Not much to say here but that we're into Obito's Cop Ventures Part 1.**_

 _ **Part 2 happens post time skip, which is basically canon which is about fourteen chapters away if I do this right.**_

 _ **Alright, good luck and Sorry.**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	5. Time After Time, Problem After Problem

_**We're back at this again and, hopefully, this came out in an orderly manner.**_

 _ **That said, onto the chapter summary.**_

 _ **By the way, I've already finished the next chapter, so you'll literally have it later this week. Hopefully this can help relieve you of your withdrawal of an Obito fic in the crossover section.**_

 _ **Also, also, for those of you that remember from way back when, Kagami's American Girlfriend has already been started and I'm 2.5k words in.**_

 _ **So look forward to that.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

She squirmed, her body ached, her bones creaked in her ears and every move brought a new horrifying sensation to her mind.

His knee hit the floor for the hundredth time that hour, who knew, he didn't care.

Melanie sat off to the side, standing in the corner of the room before her eyes glowed.

Opening the door to the hotel room, she watched Red-Eye stroll in with hurried steps followed by her sister.

Obito looked down at Neo, watching the petite woman tremble and turn, each motion drawing an unperceived moan or shiver.

Roman sat by her bedside, foot-tapping furiously, eyes on the bedridden woman.

"What happened?"

"Those bastards got the drop on us is what happened! Tsk! They just disappeared and got behind Neo," Roman hissed out. "I'm not sure what the hell happened but whatever that bastard did, he put Neo out of commission."

Obito looked at Neo before his eyes, and this was becoming quite often as of late, changed without his permission.

For what felt like the nth time this month his eyes widened as he watched some small, half-formed, skeleton hang above Neo, a noxious vapor falling from its body over the woman herself.

It had been looking down at the woman the whole time before it looked up at Obito.

His hand lashed out, snatching the skeleton from thin air, startling Roman onto his feet.

"What's the deal yo- what the _fuck_ is that?" Obito looked at Roman in surprise as he pointed at the gremlin-looking skeleton in his hand.

Miltia and Melanie came around Red-Eye before stopping and looking at the thing in his hand.

It struggled for release but would find no such respite, all eyes on it.

"This was the cause of Neo's current predicament, I believe."

There a squeak of a bedspring and the rustling of linen that had Roman back by Neo's bedside as the petite woman settled and began to stir. Heterochromatic eyes slowly opened before her hands came up to rub them.

She turned to her side, catching sight of her companion looking at her with relief in his lone, unhidden, green eye. She turned away almost immediately, face burning before she tried to get up.

Roman's larger hands held her still for what felt like an eternity as he spoke.

"Listen, Neo," he said her name out loud causing her to snap her head to his grimacing gaze. "You really shouldn't be getting up right now. Not when our resident doctor barely fixed ya up," he said, causing her to tilt her head before she froze.

Roman stared at the neck, fingers brushing on it as he saw a dark stretch of a line creep up Neo's clavicle.

"What?" he said, knocking Neo out of her stance before she rescinded from his gloved touch.

Surprising all in the room, Neo bound from the bed, stumble for a moment before regaining her mobility and launching herself into the bathroom.

Roman stared for a moment before growling and following after her with a shout, "Neo! What the Hell?"

* * *

Roman stared at her, her body now lacking that familiar top of hers as she looked in the mirror in horror.

Black. Black and _pulsating_ VEINS! They ran up everywhere around her body and coiled around to her back in a creeping fashion.

Neo stared, frozen, into her reflection before raising a hand up to the base of her neck. A black vein sat there, lighter than the others, just a single black line across healthy skin.

She touched it and immediately collapsed into Roman's frantically held out arms.

"Neo? Neo!" there was the rumble of footsteps before the Malachite Twins moved into the bathroom.

* * *

"What the _hell_ did they do to Neo?!" Roman raged, kicking over a nightstand, hands clutching onto a window sill.

Miltia had informed both Obito and Junior to the new development, the news leaving Obito staring at the skeletal abomination in his hands.

Paying more attention to it, he noted it was dark red in color, the color moving around his body every which way, with a black tailbone. Its hands were abnormally large for its size, being bigger than its ribcage, with claw-like appendages.

Its eye sockets were black with a pair of red glowing lights for "eyes", leaving him with a small sense of unease.

'What does this mean?'

 ** _~NRK~_**

Team 7 are searching the streets at night, passing the still being built Museum.

"So this old place will be up in a couple of weeks."

"Right?! I can't wait!"

Sitting at the wheel, Obito raised an eyebrow.

They'd been given the night for the three of them to patrol without superior supervision but with her on-call should something come up.

So this exclamation caused the two men to look at the Faunus female bemused. Seeing their looks she smiled and explained.

"'Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.' Ever since I learned that I've had a whole new perspective on life!"

"And apparently on history," Marrone chimed causing Liza to nod.

"Of course, my mom works as an archeologist, I've learned so much growing up and I've loved history all the more for it."

Obito let out a sound of an acknowledgment as Marrone let out an impressed whistle.

"I don't know if that counts as a hobby but you do you," Marrone concluded. "For me, it's all about hand games." The male Faunus said before retrieving a piece of string from his pocket.

Over the next 60 seconds, Marrone constructed image after image with his hands and string. Liza looked at it in confusion as Marrone grinned.

Obito's eyes narrowed as he took a quick look to the back and watch as Marrone rewound his strings back to straight lines in his hands and made another figure. It was a complicated thing, it seemed.

It was a vase, twisted to have several diamonds near the bottom and hexagon near its top.

It'd taken Marrone all of three seconds to form.

Before he could think more on it, a moving spot encroached out of the corner of his eye.

"Hold on!" the former ninja yelled, shocking the two Faunus before he harshly turned the steering wheel to the side.

He swerved the car, lurching to the side in an arc as a dark blue vehicle passed by with a loud screech!

Reclaiming the car's stability, the trio laser in on the rampant display of insanity moving on the road.

"Get 'im!"

The police car exploded from 35 to 60 in two seconds, the vehicle catching up to the disturbed driver.

The police trio found themselves screaming down the side of the streets, minding the cars they'd passed by sporadically, a few feet away from the malcontent before the mysterious driver's car made a harsh right.

The car bounced off the curb before diving into a spin and coming to a stop, hilariously, right on the space by a sidewalk.

Their car came to a stop before Marrone rushed out and zoned in on the now smoking car.

Both Liza and Obito could hear their partner yelling at the person with a dubious license before he came to a stop at the driver's window.

Marrone's irate face shifted from anger to shock before a loud "BANG" rang from his position.

The male Faunus's rear had hit the pavement a second before Obito was out of the car with a rushed order to Liza to call Ochre, the female Faunus frozen in shock before panicking hands reached for her phone.

* * *

He'd been shot, Marrone realized.

Shot by a headless body!

He heard Obito running up to him before looking him in the eyes.

"Are you..y?" it was like he barely heard him, eyes shifting nervously back to the car.

Green ran up his cheeks before spreading to the rest of his face, his eyes bristled before he stumbled to his feet and the sidewalk and vomited into a storm drain.

Having left the car, Liza looked on in worry and unease. Turning to Obito, watching as he did his best to cover the crashed car's driver's window before rolling up it up and unlocking the door, his eyes moving to them and then the crowd.

Had his eyes always been that red?

* * *

Obito cursed mentally.

Coincidence? He thought not.

What did this mean? Was this some kind of message to Junior? Surely, if it was, it'd have been nearer to The Club, no?

He felt his Sharingan spring to life once more and grunted in annoyance. Every. Time. This was getting out of hand.

His mind ran back to the card he'd received.

Whatever it was made of, it caused his Sharingan to react, so it was also of the same origin of what was going on here.

He looked at Marrone and Liza as soon as he heard the projectile vomiting to his side. Liza gave him a helpless look and he turned away quickly, eyeing the crowd before he saw a flicker of red and blue in the distance.

And a string of purple leading off somewhere into Vale.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Peering through the Autopsy window as the Forensic department checked over the body, Ochre's expression could be ripped from stone with how impassive it looked.

She turned from the body to her three junior officers and took account of their expressions.

Marrone still looked green in the face, Liza's expression not that far behind, as they looked into the Autopsy Room.

Her eyes narrowed on Obito, the one she'd invited into the force, who'd look to be about as indifferent as she displayed.

She'd expected this to shake his stature, at least a bit, perhaps showing he wasn't so down to earth as the other newbies, yet he stood strong. His eyes moved up and down the headless body without so much of a tremble.

Calculating, calm, and sharp. She'd had this evaluation of him for a while now but this put the final nail in the coffin as far as her suspicions went.

Obito Midoriya was the _perfect_ cop.

* * *

It was the result of one of _them_ doing something. This organization that decided _now_ was the time to make their debut.

And while he observed the body, he cursed himself mentally as Ochre's gaze stayed on him.

Rookies don't just look at dead, _headless_ , bodies and act so detached from the ordeal.

He was failing barely a quarter into his year as a rookie to stay under the radar. He was being a disgrace to all his ninja history all in one year.

His mind was brought back to the card and he'd made his decision.

He'd be visiting IronSights, since they were the root of most if not all his problems right now.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He frowned as they gathered in the cavern further beneath White Coats hideout.

Or really, _former_ White Coats hideout.

It was a dark purple rock that surrounded their meeting area, with several stalagmites around the floor formed into different imitations of furniture with about three entryways in.

The biggest one being formed into a darker purple table that sprouted from the ground like a flat-headed mushroom.

Six individuals in dark purple cloaks, bearing the golden skeletal frame along their backs, slinked into the room.

One walked out from a corridor to his right, his cloak in a tattered state, a grin on his face as much as he could _see_ a face. Another member was a light purple orb of pulsing energy, barely a third of his 6-foot frame settled to his left, a smaller cloak settled around it.

Two of the figures held feminine shapes, with one walking forward and her companion stepped out from her shadow, their height and bodies similar.

A large hulking form crawled down the walls before settling on the floor with nary a sound or vibration to be felt. A long furry tail escaped from underneath its cloak with stripes running down its length.

Finally, a small being scampered from underneath the cloak of the big one, the small taps were loud despite the being's rather tiny stature.

With his average build, the original inhabitant of the cave was sure enough that he was the least eccentric person in the room.

"So…. What's this all about?" the tattered cloak wearing individual asked, his grin tilting to the right, as he looked at the person who gathered them all.

The least bit weird man in the room sighed before taking out a piece of parchment from his hand, a dark swirl forming on his right and he reached in with his left.

Laying it out on the table, all the gathered came forward and leaned over to look at the poster for the soon-to-be-built museum.

One of the two women in the room tapped on the table, "so this is the new mark, correct?"

The Average one nodded. "Yeah, the little stuff we've been getting from the shops ain't cuttin' it. The amount of _good_ shit conduits in Vale are seemingly lacking and Museums are probably the best we're gonna get."

"Aron stop talking like that." One of the women said causing the Average one, Aron, to slump.

"Kekekek, so we're on the hunt once more! I love it! Think we can actually get a couple of chases going?! I can see it now, cops everywhere and our backs against the wall." The tattered cloak wearing man's hand stretched out, small lights stretched before those light strings began creating a perfect replica of the city of Vale.

Little cars were spun into life, moving around the light model city at relatively fast speeds.

"We'll curve around a large block, on the run! Then we'll swerve into oncoming traffic before going up a service ramp to an unfinished bridge and jump across to start a new life in Southern Mistral, kekeke." The man giggled to himself.

They all looked at him like he was insane.

"All in favor of never leaving Gideon in charge of our plans, _ever_ ," Aron raised a hand to which all the others followed suit.

"You guys are no fun," the now-named Gideon muttered, pouting.

"Can we please get ta show on the road?" the largest member said, tail bristled as it swept from side to side.

"Come on Mr. Mercenary, don't be so mean," Gideon spoke up. "I know you want to get back to yer lovin' wif-," with a CRACK, Gideon found himself crashing into the wall, the stone splintering before he slid down motionless.

They all stared for a moment before the smallest member piped in, words aimed at the mercenary.

"Hmph, I would be honored to your wife Mercenary!" a woman's voice echoed from the small being, causing the larger member to cover his face with a revealed large, white, furry hand before shouting at her.

"YER THE REASON 'IM IN THIS MESS!"

"Calm yourself Mercencary! This familiar's ears are rather astute and it'd be hard to find another so quickly."

"Zero, you…!"

One of the twin women shrugged at the now bickering duo. "Glad to see things falling through as usual." She said in a monotone voice. "Can we get back on track? I've got papers to grade."

Aron the Average let out a sigh before clapping his hands.

A loud ring ran about the cavern, the two women had a glow surrounding their heads as the Mercenary and "Zero" groaned, this also had the effect of waking up Gideon.

"Who, what, where?! Who am I?!"

'This isn't going nearly as well as I was expecting,' Aron thought as Gideon re-established himself.

"God we get it!" the Mercenary exclaimed from his form stumbling to the floor along with Zero.

"That was most unpleasant," the small figure's voice echoed as its hood fell back to reveal a white-haired weasel rubbing its head. The Mercenary's own hood had fallen off revealing a tiger's head, white in color with gray stripes running down his neck.

"If we can get on track," Aron said as all the members reassembled around the table once more.

"Can't believe ya got this place trapped too."

"Apologies, I didn't mean any real harm but it was one of the first places I've set up around the city," Aron said to the beastman before he coughed. "Back to business, I have familiars inside the construction and plan to have them map out the building for us."

"That sounds quite well-planned. I'd send my own familiars were it not for the distance." Aron shook his head at the familiar.

"No bad feelings here, you're essentially the head of the branch over there anyway." Aron complimented.

"Hehe, your politeness has been noted, thank you. This is all to help the people of this world after all."

"Includin' me. It better be," the tiger-faced man grumbled.

"Oh calm down there, Big Puss, we're already working on your situation," the tattered cloak wearing Gideon said with a shrug.

"Anyway!" Aron needed to reign them in! "The plan is to have each of us look into the place and set up our own effects to it, any questions? Also, Mercenary ISN'T going to be doing that so rest easy." Aron could see the tigerman relax a bit.

"Nothing I can think of," one of the twins said, Aron wasn't sure which. "That said, I'm going. Time's money and all that and I can't be late." with her piece said, the two went back down a corridor with their forms merging into one in the shadows.

"She's as creepy as always, hehe, hard to believe they allow _her_ to teach teenagers," Gideon said with a laugh before he receded from the table and walked away.

"Hmph, if this is all I'm leavin'," his piece said the Mercenary removed himself as well room the room.

He stopped as his ears flicked before, with a growl, his hand lashed out from within his cloak.

A spark filled the dark, empty, corridor revealing a robotic looking skeleton on the wall.

The large IronSights member's teeth bared as he stomped back over to the one member who'd been silent throughout the meeting.

He dropped the blue skeleton at its feet before going back to the corridor he'd started down.

"Try shit like that again and I'll be dealin' witcha maself ya bastard."

The beastman's piece said, he disappeared down the corridor.

It was silent down the corridor before the room seemed to vibrate. The orb member turned, its cloak being the only reasonable way to know before it stopped as its gaze hit Aron.

The man's expression was not one of contentment.

"Arthur Watts, I suggest you mind yourself before _I_ deal with you," Aron spoke, his voice made of ice and heat all the same. "You made a pact with us and I'll make sure you understand the repercussions of breaking a Geass."

The man disappeared in a burst of drums.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He groaned, his slender fingers coming up to massage his forehead.

'I do hope this will bear some fruit soon.' he couldn't help but mumble mentally as he got up from his chair and left his quarters in this rather drab spire _she_ 'd concocted.

He, Arthur Watts, couldn't hide the excitement he felt though. Though it may result in a pep in his step, he'd cared less of who saw him.

This was it! This was the moment he was waiting for! All he had to do was let those naive-prattling fools do the work and take the prize while in the chaos.

"You're looking rather amused, Watts." he heard from possibly to _only_ other person in this place he could stand.

His happy expression never leaving his face, Watts greeted his compatriot.

"And to you Hazel, I say, it's been a _very_ productive morning. My projects are coming along quite well and I'm simply far more enthused about it."

Hazel Reinhart wasn't someone Arthur wanted to get on the wrong side of in any physical altercation. The man's 6'9 frame dwarfed Arthur's own 6 ft one, with muscles where Arthur was slender… which was about almost everywhere. one cared to look. Hazel's dark brown colored haired matched his own except his own was swept back and he had a _grand_ mustache.

Their clothes couldn't be more different though, while his own might resemble his Atlanian heritage, a three-piece suit + ascot, Hazel's was clearly Mistralian, with his large robe-like coat.

Finish off with their matching skin color, though Arthur's was a lighter shade, one could take them for estranged family. Perhaps even cousins, if you looked at it in a certain light.

Hazel Reinhart was a man of calm demeanor and of… strange moral and sensibility. To this day, he couldn't believe Hazel's introduction to Salem's service.

A dead sister? Utterly preposterous reasoning! A relative was not worth the destruction of humankind, no, it was something else. Something had taken his sensibilities and turned them around enough so that Salem had him in her employ.

Hazel's eyes narrowed at him and Arthur realized he was staring too long again before putting up his hands in a shrug.

"Apologies, I just can't get over the fact you've refused Salem's reinforcements."

"Hmm," he closed his eyes and crossed his burly arms. "I respect her decision but I'll be turning down her offers." he gave Arthur a nod before leaving.

The disgraced scientist chuckled under his breath, his eyes shining after Hazel's leaving form.

"But of course" he whispered. "Only men can believe they could kill gods."

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **Nothing much to say here but I hope some of these new threads have caught your attention.**_

 _ **Yes, Arthus Watts is a disgraced scientist AND a magician! Who'd have thought huh?**_

 _ **His line about Hazel is interesting, no? Can't wait to see how that goes.**_


	6. Rings in all the Pots

_**Now, for those of you who are going to be calling me out for this, I'm going to be altering the history of RWBY to fit my needs. OR, more like, an interpretation of their history since WOR doesn't provide much mystery to the concepts in RWBY and I can use the holes in WOR to work for me.**_

 _ **So, here we go.**_

 _ **Also, also, there's a conversation in this that, obviously, feels kind of awkward and full of holes and it is. I couldn't get a good feel for it and, honestly, it's one that**_ **does** _ **have holes in it.**_

 _ **I've gone over that conversation maybe four times, rewritten it, and still feel like it's missing something or not persuasive enough.**_

 _ **I really want people's opinions on it. IDeas on how to make it more solid than, I personally believe, is. There are enough holes in the logic of RWBY that we, as a community, can make use of them.**_

 _ **Also, also, also! The power system for magic will be touched on most likely in the next few chapters, so hold your horses. Whatever preconceptions you have about the system used might not work in this story.**_

 _ **So just a heads up and thank you for your rapport.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

He had the human male trapped to the floor, his hands already done latching the cuffs on him before picking him up to his feet and dragging him off.

"You goddamn dogs! Fuck you! Fuck you animal-fucking fag, you-" before another expletive could spill from the man's mouth, he found said orifice host to tape.

Off to the side, Marrone looked on in disgust as he exited the house and locked eyes onto the perp.

"I hope to OUM-ABOVE that your ass never sees light _again_ ," the male Faunus hissed. Venom dripping from his words with a veritable splash near the end.

Obito frowned as he looked above the man's head, glancing at the skeleton, which was dark green in color with teal eyes, laughing into its claws.

Another one of these things, another person who'd seemingly gone off the deep end.

He grimaced.

* * *

 _They all watched as Neo huddled in her bed, doing her best to look away from all of them_ but _Roman._

 _The man himself was looking at Neo with a nervous expression as he sat on the side of the bed she huddled up in._

 _The mini skeleton in his hand had stopped trying to escape and had begun laughing, its form rattling before it collapsed into a pile of bones._

 _Neo jumped before covering herself with the bed's comforter._

 _Roman was incensed as he tried to get up only to be stopped by a pinch to the bottom of his coat._

 _Turning around, he found Neo to be the culprit leaving him to sigh and sit back down._

 _Obito looked around before settling on Junior, who'd done nothing but stare at the thing in Obito's hand._

"… _So," the gangster boss began with a sigh. "Where do we go from here?"_

 _And wasn't that the question of the day?_

' _This is getting complicated. I'll have to take things into my own hands.'_

" _I'll see about surveying the situation," the former Uchiha had one sleeve on already before continuing as he put on his coat. "For now, we should do our best to never leave in singles. Everyone should be in a group of two or more."_

 _His piece said, and his coat on, Obito took his leave through one of the motel windows._

* * *

The human member of the trio turned as he saw Liza exit the house with a woman wrapped under arm covered in a towel.

She looked up for a moment, revealing cat-like whiskers and slit eyes before her gaze immediately shot down once she caught sight of Obito.

The human male sighed before signaling Marrone over to help handle the situation.

That done, Obito made his way into the house, the woman going stock-still as he passed.

Looking around the foyer, he traveled further into the house. Moving past the living room, he saw the scene of the crime as various effects sat on the floor, thrown around by the victim at her aggressor.

He looked at the various broken lamps and knocked over wooden statues. He leaned down and picked up one of the statues.

It was a dark brown. A real DARK brown, almost black, wooden statue. It was a weird-looking beast of some sort.

A weird plant looking things, with small stubby legs coming out of a large lump that could be the stem and roots. The stem went up for a bit before leaning over into a large flat-sided, bulbous head. It was shaped like a pelican's beak when full with the top portion looking like the opening to a mouth.

He turned it around in his hands, hands moving up and around it, he had it on its back before he felt something on the bottom.

He frowned as hr thought. 'Engravings?'

Turning the statue upside down, he locked onto the bottom of the stature with three symbols written on it.

He turned his Sharingan on of his own volition, tracing every each of the sym-

* * *

 **Thurisaz**

 **(Fehu)**

 **Naudhiz**

* * *

A wave crashed over him, foreign energy cloaked him for a moment before being repelled. Not even of his own volition, _again_.

The statue shook before breaking down to dust. Obito looked at dust as it trailed between his fingers, eyes wide.

He stared for a moment before running throughout the house and searching for other items like this but he came up with nothing.

Frowning, he exited the house, watching as the last police car sat in front of the house.

By the vehicle was Liza and Marrone, the two talking about something before noticing him.

Marrone nodded to him and raised a hand in greeting.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He sat in his living room, a decent sized one with it being directly connected to the kitchen where the only divider would be the counter with a basket of fruit on it.

He sat on the sole couch in the room, a simple gray, flat, bottom thing with a soft plush backing.

In front of him, on his dark brown mahogany coffee table, was the card he received. The plastic-looking item stared back at him as he did it.

He remembered the instructions and sighed.

'This is it.'

He had on his black cloak, black gloves, and orange mask on. He got up, his feet phasing into his shoes before he sent the card back to the Kamui dimension in a swirl of twisted space.

In the next moment, he too disappeared into that same swirl.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He appeared on the Vale Pier, his sandals touching the stone floor with a slight click.

He allowed his form to fall into the floor before he began patrolling the pier in its entirety. The pier wasn't as full as it would usually be. There were few freight containers around, with a large space being clear in the middle of the pier.

Settling on top of an assorted tower of containers, he decided to do it here.

His glove covered finger slide across its surface and he waited.

He waited.

He waited. And he waited some more.

After twenty minutes, he was starting to get annoyed before he looked at his hand. Was it the glove? He didn't want to leave any traces on it and he already considered that might be the reason.

He grimaced before his Aura engulfed his finger as it swiped down.

The result was quick. Maybe ten seconds had passed before a swirling portal opened up and a familiar face greeted him.

Or as familiar as could be with the bags under her eyes and the drained expression on her face. She held her head for a moment before looking around.

Her eyes widened as they landed on him before she stood to her full height, which put her maybe three inches under him.

"I see, so you've finally decided to call me," she said before slumping. "On a _weekday_ , of all days."

He raised an eyebrow before realizing that it made sense, in a comedic sort of way.

Last he checked, mystic robes weren't exactly in many job descriptions.

She sighed before staring directly at his face.

Her eyes glowed, his own widened before his Sharingan swirled to life as his Aura flickered underneath his skin.

The woman's eyes widened.

'He's able to block my vision without any formal training?!'

That wasn't normal, as far as her group was concerned, which only made his potential more incredible. Greater than she'd ever thought!

Her eyes dimmed before she bowed.

"Apologies. I didn't mean anything by Slipping like that."

His lone visible eye narrowed before he spoke.

"Explain. You said you'd give me answers and I'll decide if they're worth this little visit." his Madara Voice came out as easily as his own.

"R-Right, apologies," she nodded. With a sway of her hand two orbs formed above it, one of swirling darkness and the other of cracking ice.

"I'd like to introduce you to our group." She smiled as the two orbs disappeared and were replaced by two floating symbols.

 **Isaz**

 **Pertho**

The one that had replaced the ice was like one long line, yet a word filled his mind.

 _Isaz – Ice, That Which Hinders, Stagnation, I_

Looking at the second one, the same response happened again.

 _Pertho – Unknown, Initiation, Something Concealed, A Secret Thing, P_

It looked like an angular 'C' with two small lines going up and down from the end of the letter, respectively.

His expression fell, an annoyed one taking its place as he tried to figure out what was actually going on.

" **Orichalcum."**

The air seemed to _hum_ as she said it, putting him on edge. It came and went as soon as she finished pronouncing the word yet it left him with more questions.

"I can answer any questions or reservations you might have," she smiled cordially. "I know this might be daunting to most of the people on Remnant but we, **Orichalcum** , would welcome you with open and helping arms."

He raised a brow at how… _honest,_ she was being. He'd not detected a single lie in her words which made their existence even more confusing.

'Maybe she's a low rank in their organization.' It was possible but he questioned it when he remembered that there were other cloaked figures that night and they'd been without the skeleton both figuratively and literally on the back of their cloaks.

'So she's higher up but how many levels are there?' he couldn't help but think as he thought up another thousand questions.

"How many ranks are there in this organization of yours?"

"Hmm," she hummed. "Here in Vale, there's about three ranks. The Devout, the Acolyte, and the Ascended."

He nodded, already aligning all the titles to the cloaked figures.

"So what are you?" he asked with a furrow in his brow.

"Oh, I'm an Acolyte," she said with a puff of her chest.

He didn't move but his mind was moving at rapid paces.

'She's the middle rank… but she also got the drop on me, this is bad.' He thought he'd be dealing with Huntsman, Huntsman-dropouts, or even failures, but now he wasn't so sure.

"So how many are in Vale?" he asked yet she frowned.

"I'm sorry but that's not something I can reveal to a new member." She said.

"What makes you think I want to join **Orichalcum**?" he said to which she laughed.

"Because I can tell you want in. I can read your emotions. You thirst for ans—" she'd said but his eyes went wide as did hers before she shook her hands in front of her.

"Please, please, please!" she waved furiously as his displeasure rose in waves. "I know this may sound invasive but it's not something we cann _ot_ do." She felt his distrust barely change but it rose no more.

She had to be getting to him, right?

"It comes with the territory of becoming one of us. Awaking your magical power makes us-"

"My WHAT?!" he exclaimed with all the preposterous energy he could muster.

Magic, MAGIC?! Was she being serious?!

"I know this sounds ridiculous but please," she begged, hands clasped in front of her. "I tell you the truth!"

He looked at her before his hackles lowered a bit.

"Magic, you're being serious?" she nodded furiously at his question.

"I was like you, I too didn't believe at first but I was made to believe-" he shot her a suspicious look. "… We're not a cult." She finished weakly at his accusing gaze.

The former Uchiha took a deep breath before he exhaled.

"This is ridiculous," he held a hand to his mask. "Say I do believe you, why does **Orichalcum** exist?"

She smiled at his question, standing tall before putting her hands on her hips.

"The aim of Orichalcum is to bring an end to this Age of False-Magic and give people back their heritage." She swung her arm about her in an arc, five orbs of energy formed before disappearing.

'False-Magic?' Wasn't that a bold statement to make? 'Does this mean there's another group besides Orichalcum?'

He frowned as something felt off.

"And who exactly are these False-Magic users?" she nodded, readily giving him answers.

"For the sake of efficiency, we call them False-Users. And as for those False-Users, it's none other than those who have been burdened with the duty of protecting Remnant of course." She said, causing him to take a sharp breath.

'She can't mean…'

"The Huntsmen. Those who wield their so-called 'souls'," she said the last word with two twitches of her fingers. "To this day, we're still not sure who gave them Aura but they've been conned out of their full potential."

"Wait," he had a headache already.

Huntsmen? As people who use _magic_? Nothing she said was making sense.

She looked amused. "Is it really that surprising?"

"More like doesn't make sense. How can they possibly be using magic and not know about it?"

"How did you?" she said with a sarcastic quip, causing him to frown. "Think about it like this, do you ever think about Aura beyond what it is? Do you even know when the first written record of Aura being around was?" She asked as he was listened and crossed her arms.

"Let's look at it this way. You know about Aura's breaking, yes?" he nodded. "Then let me ask you a question, how can an Aura, a personification of a person's soul, 'break?"

He narrowed his visible eye and actually felt an uncertainty come over him. The more he thought about it, it DIDN'T make sense. It was damage, enough damage to their Aura would break their barriers and leave them with normal, although enhanced from long time Aura use, bodies.

Surely, if people's souls broke they'd be broken as a result. They'd very likely fail on a functional level and die.

That's what happened when the Reaper Death Seal had been in use and also what happened when bijuu were removed from their containers. It wasn't necessarily 'breaking' the soul but surely something similar would be happening to those whose souls had been broken.

"Exactly! Have you ever realized how _convenient_ Aura is? That it leaves no possible damage when the _personification of your soul is broken_?"

The more she spoke, the more he understood where this theory bore fruit.

Vale's very first king's generation had so happened to have one of the first mentions of Aura in history. The only _documented_ bit of this in history had only arisen when the Great War had ended. When the huntsman Academies had been established.

No, that didn't add up.

"So you see? This whole system of Huntsmen and Huntresses is born on a bed of lies. These powers that they _don't_ have could have been manipulated to never appear."

She sighed. "There's literally no reason for Huntsmen to have so little power when the entirety of the _world is at stake_."

"Perhaps but people have been looking into the soul for years, surely these avenues for other abilities would have been found already." He said, frowning when she shook her head.

"Do you honestly think that Aura is a truly complete energy?" she asked

'She can't mean…' if what she was saying was true then-!

"Aura is one-third of magic, spiritual energy, that's been altered into a spell. It limits people to that one energy to use instead of the full, true, power that dwells within."

"There are two energies that are supposed to combine with Aura. The physical," her hand glowed yellow. "and the outside, the energy pulled from the World itself." he looked at her, expecting her to do something but she gave a shrug.

"The _chant_ you use to unlock Aura IS a result of magic. Aura healing is an added effect. The barrier is made from your soul but is merely a construct that pulls on it. Aura is _constructed_ to do all these things based on the spiritual energy people are born with."

"Not only that, there's more," her hand stopped glowing but her eyes shone a green light. "There are abilities we've gained that allow for the possibility to learn magic and aspects of the world itself. We've learned the ability to Slip and See and with those abilities alone we've confirmed that the King's hand has played in the creation of Aura.

"There is a remnant of the King's magical signature inside the Auras of every person that can use it."

His mind stopped. 'How, why?!' This was… this was… He needed to learn. This was her card most likely. This was the carrot that'd be used to make him bite the bait.

And it was working.

"Magic has been dwelling in people for long before the King was present, but he had the wherewithal to manipulate the energy that is Aura." He answered to which she nodded.

He came to a realization that there was a lot of things he took for granted with Remnant. Things he'd not thought possible, foolishly might he add, had now emerged.

"This is also why **Orichalcum** exists. In our goal to spread the ability to use magic, we also are in search of these answers because there's one thing we know for sure."

"The King of Vale from 80 years ago had a hand in the creation of Aura and, by association, knows magic."

He thought over all this and came to a sudden realization that he simply didn't care about most of it but now had to.

All he had cared for was getting his senses around "magic" under control and finding Orichalcum's involvement with his recent cases. Most of it was none of his business.

Secret government? Hidden abilities? Magic as a whole? He hadn't needed any of it but now he was involved.

Things were likely to get bigger as things went. Of that, he was unfortunately sure that something would happen in the coming year with IronSi— Orichalcum making their moves.

Great, he was sticking with these weird people for the foreseeable future.

"I do need to apologize though," she bowed. "We've gone so far off-topic that I skipped over your introduction into our ranks." She said as she wore a sheepish expression.

Maybe two hours had passed with their discussion and he could note the barest glimpse of the sun beginning to peek over the horizon.

They'd been at this for quite a while and he needed to be ready for work in a couple of hours.

… Eh, he'd pulled way worse all-nighters even BEFORE going to school in Vale.

Yet, it seemed things wouldn't be going his way this day as the woman was just about to fall asleep standing up.

She tilted a bit to the side and then steadied herself, looking embarrassed as she did those things.

To be fair, he could do with a few more of these informative talks before joining.

"Very well, we'll reconvene at a later date. You look barely awake as it is without talking." He said, causing her to look at him slowly before rubbing her eyes and grimacing.

"Yes, perhaps we can do this when it's not on a school day," his eyes went wide. "Maybe we can try again come this weekend. Is that fine with you?"

He nodded, leaving her with a sleepy smile before she disappeared into a giant, floating, ribcage.

With a crack, it snapped closed and faded away.

… He'd forgotten to ask about the bloody skeleton!

That thought aside, there was more to worry about.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He sat in the backseat, eyeing the outside window as Ochre drove them past the museum again.

Something was going to happen here. Most likely some days before the opening of the building.

Now, the question was: Should he interfere with what will go down?

His immediate thought was, No, he shouldn't. Why should he? He was already dealing with all his problems, hopefully, within perhaps a year's time.

He thought back to Neo and couldn't really find it in himself to really care about the woman.

He and Junior had previous arrangements that _might_ have pushed his hand into helping if it were the twins but it wasn't like that with Roman.

Roman was an infamous thief with more problems to come if he associated with him and/or helped him. Obito received nothing out of this but maybe the alliance of a thief.

Not exactly great rewards for helping him when Roman would more than likely backstab him at the drop of a hat if he was threatened… If the display for Neo wasn't so genuine.

He sighed as the image of a blonde, spiky-headed, boy and a silver-haired man filled thoughts and his expression flattened.

'Dammit, I'm going to be helping, aren't I?' he thought as he just guilt-tripped himself. Neither of the two bastards in his memory would allow him to back down from this. Maybe Kakashi would but Naruto wouldn't have hesitated if he read the blonde right.

Who was he kidding? Of course, Naruto would jump at the bit to help. It was in his nature.

As it was for the younger, naïve, Obito.

"Say, I've been wondering about these past strings of cases," he heard from his peripheral. Turning to his side, he saw it was Liza who spoke.

"Yeah," responded Marrone, who sat in the passenger's seat of the police cruiser.

"Don't you think they've been kind of weird?"

"How so?"

"Well, for one, hasn't this been more often than you'd expect for abuse cases like this? First, it was a pair of sisters, then a mother of two, then a father being beaten by his Faunus wife and finally the one from yesterday." The female Faunus pointed out, punctuating each case with a tap to her fully gloved palms.

Marrone looked up in thought at that. "Yeah, I did think it's weird but these kinds of happen all the time. Maybe it's a string of people building courage? Ya know, like finally getting help." He offered but Liza shook her head.

"In under two weeks? It just seemed weird. None of these people were related in any way and they all happen in under less than half a month." She said confused.

"… that said, as far as it goes, most of the others haven't noted anything either." Ochre said from the driver's seat.

Obito had been paying some attention but had been more occupied internally before a wave of… something ran against his senses.

He sat up, keeping his face to the window as he tried to figure out where the magic was coming from but, just like that, it was gone.

He frowned.

"I guess you're right," Liza conceded and sat back with her head on the headrest.

Obito kept looking out the window before a light caught his eye. It wasn't one from outside either, as it didn't move even as they passed more scenery. It was light blue in color and it was coming from his side?

Carefully turning to his fellow female junior officer, his Sharingan now off, he saw Liza just sitting patiently in her seat.

He looked around the back of the car, noting nothing of worth.

An idea came to him and he looked at the window again and noted the light was gone.

'It's from Liza, isn't it?' this brought up several questions.

Was Liza from Orichalcum? Did they do something to her?

Then he thought about what happened a moment ago.

'Was that magic? Does it have something to do with Liza?'

He thought about what they were talking about before his eyes went wide, sitting up and looking at the driver's seat.

'Ochre.' Was this it? Was she the one who did it? But then—

'Why?'

 _ **~NRK~**_

They were back at the district, stepping out the car they met on the street side.

"With this, we've finished your first month on the job. How do you feel?" Ochre asked, looking to them all before focusing in on Obito.

He shrugged. "Nothing I wasn't expecting."

Marrone agreed. "Yeah, it wasn't so bad."

"I'm ready to face anything that comes our way," Liza said with a fist pump.

"Hey Ochre, we've got an assignment for your group," came a voice from behind her.

She sighed as she turned to Iruka, the tan man walking towards her with a piece of paper in hand.

Watching the interaction go down, Marrone grinned.

"She has the hots for Iruka..."

"It's rather obvious."

"I didn't think Ms. Adel would actually fall in love."

Turning around, with a scowl on her face, Ochre looked at her standing-at-attention cadets. Not a foot out of step as they looked to her with their utmost attention.

She never saw a bigger lie in her life as she could see Celeste fighting to maintain his stoic façade and Carmel doing her best to both look at her and NOT look her in the eyes.

Midoriya gave nothing away.

 _ **~NRK~**_

'So this is a Huntsman-Specialty school.' Obito noted as he, Ochre, Marrone, and Liza, stood in front of the large imposing doors of Vale Central School for Huntsmen and Huntresses.

Or VCS for short.

They looked at the large building with trepidation for two Faunus officers while the two humans looked on with impassive gazes.

Ochre breathed. "Let's go inside, our guide will meet us in the front foyer." Her piece said the senior cop walked forward with trio trailing behind.

"Haah," Liza let out a large sigh, her ears perked straight up. "S-so… Who wants to go first?" the female Faunus asked as she looked at her team with a shaky smile.

Marrone looked startled at her question before he grinned nervously as well. "I guess that's actually gonna happen, huh?"

"Yeah, just demonstrating with a group of teenagers."

"Powerful teenagers, sure but that's not important, right?"

"Right! It's not like there's going to be a whole class of Remnant's future Huntsmen looking at us, hahaha."

"Right?! Hahahah!"

Obito gave them a raised eyebrow.

"I can do the demonstration—"

"By the gods, thank you!"

"Please!"

* * *

They stood there, just standing in the foyer, as they waited for their guide to come.

Both Marrone and Liza was frozen stiff, no more than idle Faunus statues by this point, as Obito stood no less relaxed but far better at not showing it and for different reasons.

'What is Ochre's end game?' he wondered as another huntress-in-training passed them by, eying the three of them up before moving on.

Was she simply trying to keep her involvement secret? Perhaps, those strings he'd seen leading into the city proper had been leading _near_ the direction of a police department.

Yet, this had its own problems, as he'd seen those strings even when Ochre was around.

Maybe this was a dual effort? He'd need to shadow her.

Hopefully, this time, there'd be less of him getting the drop on.

As he finished that thread of thought, he saw Ochre flagging them over as another person stood in front of her. His eyes went wide.

That freaking woman was here! How could his luck be THIS bad?!

Coming to a stop in front of Ochre, Obito did his best to not stand out in front of their escort.

"This is my squad, Midoriya, Carmel, and Celeste, they will be sitting in on the lessons." As these words left Ochre's mouth, both Liza and Marrone deflated in relief.

No stage fright for them, today.

* * *

They traveled through a long hallway, passing classroom upon classroom before stopping in front of a door the Orichalcum member gestured to it.

"This is the teachers' lounge, I'll just gather some of my things before we head to my class." Her piece said, she led them into the lounge and they were introduced to interconnected desks nearly taking up the entirety of the middle of this rather large room.

Some teachers looked up from their desk, looking at the quartet's uniforms before nodding and looking back down.

Liza and Marrone looked at the Huntsmen and Huntresses with barely concealed curiosity, stretching their necks to look at the small some of people in the room.

Obito pretended to rub his eyes before using a flicker of his Sharingan to paint a picture in his mind of the entire room.

He noted where the silver-haired woman had and found nothing.

Nothing, not even the woman's own Aura, or _magical power_ , in this case.

Troubling.

The sound of a door opening came from behind them before an unfortunately familiar voice arrived with it.

"Oh, what's up sis?" Coco looked at the four of the police officers with a curious stare before her face shifted to one of surprise.

"Wait, you guys are gonna be the ones teaching us? That's cool," Coco said excitedly before noticing Obito.

He did his best to not acknowledge her, which went right out the window as she swaggered on over and threw an arm around his shoulders.

"Whacha doin' here my silent friend?" she grinned as she asked. "Here to see me?"

"Not even remotely," he answered causing her to fake her shock. "I didn't even know you went to school here." At that, Coco groaned.

"Sis, come on! This is your greatest little sister here! Don't you want people to know about your amazing sibling?" Ochre rolled her eyes before Obito noticed a rather sharp glint in them.

"I'd rather people _not_ know the connection," Ochre said flatly. While Coco and his team might have not caught the tone, probably thinking she was kidding, Obito saw truth beneath.

'She's being serious?' Why though? Sure, Coco could be annoying but, from what little of it he saw in the Elemental Nations, family was important.

Hell, Kaguya did nothing but rave about family from what he could glean in his unconscious form back then.

"Ah, Coco," the woman had come back. "What brings you here?"

"Nothing teach, just saw some faces I remember." She emphasized this point but bumping shoulders with him. "No foul, just coming back from usin' the powder closet."

"Hmm, well while that's well and good, you should be in class."

"Got it, I'll just hitch a ride with you guys then." Her grin was telling.

Ochre's glare was as well.

With a sigh a shrug, they left the teachers' lounge with another group member in tow.

Coco frowned as she was made to carry half of the papers her teacher had brought but shrugged.

Matching pace with Obito, she grinned.

"So what's going on with you?" he eyed for a moment.

"We're teaching your class."

"Yeah, 'bout what?"

"You'll know when we get there."

"Come on, not even a hint?"

"No." his short answer made her pout. He rolled his eyes, not even beginning to understand how Ochre and she were so far apart, personality-wise.

On thought, he had a question.

"Coco."

"Hm?"

"What is the relationship between you and your sister anyway?" he saw her grin resurface.

"Oh? ~ trying to get the little sis to pour out some juicy deets on her sister?" her eyes sparkled as his narrowed. "Well, I can't give ya her three sizes, that's your job, but we can cross-check."

Great that headache was coming back with a vengeance.

"You know what I mean."

"I know," she smiled this time. "If I had to put it this way, me and sis are all we have left. Sis apparently was on her own with me when she was real young. Turns out, our parents weren't so nice and dumped us first chance they got. Some real bastards, those guys." She frowned.

"So you've been on your own for a while?"

"That's about it, we grew up, like most of the people here, near a shore city. Nothing but bright sun and blue seas. The locals were real nice and Ochre got some nice jobs and a place for us in a bar down there for a bit. Shoring up the rest of the cash, we moved here after she passed her exams." She readjusted the books in her arms. "And it's been that way ever since before I started going to this school."

He digested all the information he'd received before noting her expecting look. He sighed before asking, "What do you want in return?"

He quickly found himself burdened with the stuff she'd had in her arms.

"Carry that." She grinned. "How could you see a frail young lady under duress and not help."

"You a huntress-in-training, what 'frail' lady?"

"These dainty arms of mine say otherwise."

"Those 'dainty' arms of yours could probably put a hole in a cement wall." She shot her tongue out at him before matching pace with Liza, the female Faunus looked surprised but welcomed the conversation.

Slowing down to match his pace, Marrone grinned.

"…"

"…"

"So…" the male Faunus said.

"So what?" The youngest of the cops asked with a raised eyebrow.

"So nothing, what was that all about?"

"Nothing important, she tricked me into carrying her books for her." Marrone looked incredulous.

"No way, if your grades are anything to go by, you're not _that_ lacking in street smarts." Obito gave him a look.

"The hell's that's supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on, don't dodge the question. What was going on with that 'Coco' girl?"

"Nothing, she's Ochre's sister and I knew them for a bit before being in the force." Marrone rubbed his chin.

"Right, right, Ochre was the one to recommend you one year earlier than normal." His grin returned. "So seeing someone close to your age break open your shell a bit."

"Excuse me?"

"You're like, 18, right?"

"In half a year, but—"

"We're here!"

Paying attention, the two males found that they had stopped. Now in front of a classroom door with the silver-haired woman looking at Coco, expectantly.

Coco grinned as Obito came forward with the papers.

With his burden gone, Obito couldn't help but be annoyed at the pitying look he'd received from the woman.

Information was worth a lot more than his dignity. Barring age-wise circumstances, his body was an asset to be used.

It was a shame that that wouldn't help him in the next few moments.

He passed the door and felt a wave of, what had to be, magic pass over him.

"Ah, mister!"

 _Great._

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **Among everything else, getting this work has been pretty fun.**_

 _ **Once again, I'm not even remotely confident about**_ **that _conversation (You'll know which one I mean) and actually, some of this chapter's flow felt off to me. I've checked it at least half a dozen times, still can't put my finger on it but I want to get this chapter to you guys, since it's been a LONG while._**

 _ **I apologize for all the time I've taken for granted from you guys and hope this (Second of two) chapter will make up for it.**_

 _ **Later.**_

 ** _Kagami's American Girlfriend sits at: 5.5k words. Still not even being done with the Kagami side._**


	7. A Strangely Relevant Problem

_**So here we are, chapter 7, not much to say.**_

 _ **At least this chapter will be a little longer than usual, mostly because I couldn't logically fit this entire situation and add more none relevant, in relation to the chapter itself, onto it. Doesn't make sense? Good, it does to me and I want you to trust me on this.**_

 _ **Another thing, holy shit, why does everyone think I'm going to, or even Obito, use a gun? Where is this idea coming from? I've had three PMs talking to me about this "development" and I have to wonder if these people understand Obito at all. No offense, but you guys need to have a little faith and patience. Unless stated by me, the character, or the character's actions, don't take something for a solid idea.**_

 _ **Good? Good, now, let's hit the start, shall we?**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

He sighed as he saw who was coming his way.

"Tanjirou, what are you doing here?" Obito said as the boy stopped in front of him.

Tanjirou smiled with enthusiasm as he looked at Obito. The 15-year-old barely reached Obito in height, maybe an inch shorter, with what seemed like an average build though the youngest cop knew better.

He'd trained Tanjirou personally, after all, for what that was worth.

* * *

" _If you don't want what happened to happen again you will_ get. Up. Tanjirou!" _Obito yelled at the boy, age 10, struggle to get to his feet before he did._

" _Y-Yes!" The boy shouted, breath ragged and body trembling._

 _His body was full of bruises, many standing out on his arms as his body was covered by a green and black checkered haori. Though Obito was sure his body was just as bad._

 _Eying him for a moment, Obito put his wooden sword down and the boy across from him did as well, eagerly letting his own drop and falling to his knees._

 _Obito felt his body ache, the bandages restricting his movements with how taut they were._

' _While my body is like this, this is a good way to not get rusty at least.' He thought before walking towards the boy._

" _Tanjirou." the now named Tanjirou jumped before he scrambled to his feet and held the sword in front of him._

 _Obito's dark sliver eyes stared into burgundy orbs before pushing the bokken down._

 _Tanjirou's body completely let go, sword falling from his grip and he fell back on his bottom before spreading out and closing his eyes._

" _You did better than yesterday, take solace in that fact… we'll start again tomorrow and go for five minutes longer."_

" _Y-Yes, master." Obito let out a breath every time he heard that phrase._

' _I didn't think I would ever be called that.' It was an extremely valid thought considering the last time he ever saw a genin, he'd been trying to kill them._

 _The soft thumps of feet made Tanjirou open his eyes, a smile splaying across his face before he sat up._

" _Nezuko!" he said as a little girl ran up to the two in the middle of the field outside {Scarlatina Rabbit town}._

" _Mmm, mmm," the girl skid to a stop, arms spinning in circles before she was caught by Obito._

" _Hmph! Hmph, hmph!" she curled her arms under her chin and gave his a nod and appreciative grunts._

 _Nezuko was Tanjirou's little sister, a girl borne mute and took to keeping a mask over her mouth. Her eyes were plenty expressive though. A lot like…_

 _He sighed as he set the little girl, age 7, down. Her long dark brown hair fell past her knees and was completely opposite of Tanjirou's short, burgundy hair that swept to the back of his head. Like Tanjirou though, she too wore a haori, her own was pink ad black checkered with stars around it._

 _He let out a set of grunts and gestured to Tanjirou, who nodded at each gesture before getting._

 _He stumbled a bit, Nezuko moving underneath his right arm to stabilize him, before he spoke._

" _Thank you for training me, again," he tried to bow, bringing his sister along with him. "I have to go home, father's come down with another set of coughs so I'll be cooking tonight." The boy eyed him from underneath his hair._

" _Very well, we'll continue this two days from now. Take care of your father, Tanjirou."_

" _Thank you, master! Come on Nezuko, tetete," Tanjirou moved with a stuttering hiss and both brother and sister left the field._

"… _Hahh," Obito let out a breath before retrieving his sword and walking home._

 _He'd taken to training Tanjirou because of the kidnapping and because the young boy had asked him, with tears in his eyes, to teach him to fight. To protect._

' _He probably wouldn't think about trying to kill father.' Tanjirou was a remarkably kind soul, to a point that Obito couldn't possibly believe the boy would pick up a weapon but here he was._

 _Perhaps Tanjirou had more grit in him than Obito thought._

* * *

The young man still wore his haori but underneath was a black shirt and a closed ending hakama of the same color that led into his tabi socks with a white belt to hold it up. His hair was slightly longer than what he remembered and he now wore a set of hanafuda earrings that Obito had only ever seen on Tanjirou's father… and his own.

"Boy scout?" Coco chipped in with a raised brow before pointing to Obito. "You know this guy?"

"That's rather rude."

"Come on, don't be a baby."

"Ah," Tanjirou spoke up with an unsure smile. "I wasn't aware you knew ma-ister." He stumbled before nodding to the annoyed Obito. "We came from the same village and he left for school here three years ago and he helped tureeeeeeyyyy me with _treys_! That's it and he helped me with my school work and cooking." Tanjirou laughed nervously as Coco gave him a weird look before turning to Obito.

"You can cook?"

"MONJIROU! Who's this?!" came a yell from rows of students causing many of them, including Coco, to laugh as a boy-headed young man stomped down the stairs to get in front of them.

It was a boar head, obviously fake, that stared at them with bulging blue eyes and gray fur. He wore a light tan, tight-fitting, long sleeve shirt and pants that looked strangely like Tanjirou's but with a fur-lined waistband and belt.

He was muscular, for sure, and Obito could see stretch marks all over his body and assumed he have a rather ridiculous amount of flexibility—and he was now staring him in the face.

"Inosuke," Tanjirou said with a sigh and a steady stare. "That's rude."

The boar head wearing teen let air exit the mask's nostrils before he took a single step back.

Tanjirou sighed.

"Hmmm," the now named Inosuke hummed, hand on his mask's chin as he looked Obito up and down before circling him. Circling him like some sort of wild animal.

"Tanjirou, explain."

"Ah, sorry but Inosuke's not… well adjusted. To people, yet." Obito sent him a flat stare but found his vision invaded by a boar head.

"Fight me!" the young man yelled causing Obito to blink.

"What?"

"You heard me! I've been listening to Kakenjirou for a while now—"

"Still not my name."

"… he told me there were a bunch of strong guys here in this sizy—"

"City." Coco offered from Obito's side, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Said that if I became a Hunt-ze-man I'd fight strong guys," Inosuke hit his chest with his fist. "I'm the Almightly Lord Inosuke! Now fight me!" he pointed at Obito's face, snorting out the nostrils of his mask.

"… No." Inosuke stumbled.

"What?!"

"I said 'No'. One, you're Huntsman, act like one. Second, you're supposed to be protecting me, not fighting me. Third, you need to be more aware of your surroundings." Obito finished with the sound of click reaching Inosuke's ears.

Looking down, the young Huntsmen-to-be saw his hands cuffed in front of him.

"…" he stared for ten seconds head beginning to tick sporadically before he spazzed out.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH! Tonkitou, get these traps off me!" the boy angrily flailed about, jumping up and down as Tanjirou looked him with a drip of sweat rolling down his face.

"Inosuke maybe you should calm down—"

"AAARRRRRGGHHHHHH!"

"Huntsman grade enhanced cuffs," Marrone tapped on the item in question before taking out a key and releasing the irate Inosuke.

"Hmm! Hmm! Hmm!" Inosuke snorted angrily before he got a tap to his shoulder.

"What do you—" the boar mask-wearing teen stopped as the silver-haired teacher finally stepped in to stop the interaction.

"Inosuke, go sit down before I give you detention again."

"Mmmmmmmmm," Inosuke deflated before sulking and slinking back up the stairs and sat down with his head on the desk.

"Tanjirou please return to your seat."

"Sorry," the polite boy jogged back up to his seat next to the disparaged Inosuke, trying to cheer up the aggressive teen. She saw that Coco was already seated at the front, grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

"Haah, I apologize for that." the teacher sighed before shooting them an exasperated smile. "I've also forgotten to introduce myself, I'm Dalia Hawthorne." She held out a hand to all three of the junior cops.

Obito watched her reactions as she shook each of their hands. She didn't make any change of expression even as she shook his hand and moved on to nod to Ochre.

'Is she acting? She has to have had Huntsmen training of sorts, so it's possible.' Huntsmen in particular received training in Huntsmen Academies in diplomacy, socializing, police cooperation, and crowd control, to name a few.

If she had diplomacy training than she can hide her intentions well.

"Now!" she turned to her students, catching their attention. "Today we'll be doing some in class practical training with police cooperation. This isn't something that's really taught in most combat schools so take this lesson as you getting ahead of your fellow Huntsmen."

With her piece said, Ochre moved forward, the trio of junior officers moving with her but staying to the sides of the center of the half-auditorium.

The room was built for projection of one's voice, with it going from the ground floor and moving up diagonally with a set of stairs to and past the seats the students sat in. The front, where the police stood, was large with a large blackboard behind it and the teacher's desk to the side.

"In the future, you'll be tasked with many different kinds of jobs and missions to take on. One type of missions and jobs to take on will be you getting involved with the police with investigations and/or bodyguard detail." Excited murmurs broke out amongst the students.

"That's gonna be so cool~"

"I wonder if I can make it big as an investigator Huntsmen."

"Think we'll get to fight some strong guy?"

"The chances are likely, Inosuke."

"Alright! Bring it on!"

"Today and throughout this week, we'll be going through some of the rules and practices of engagement, fallen allies, Rules to Huntsmen by Rules to Police, and investigations with scouting." She saw a raised hand and pointed to it.

"Yes?"

"Umm," the boy had yellow hair with dark shades running on his choppy hair's sides. "So we're going to be called in to just keep an eye out, right?" he trembled as Ochre shook her head.

"When you're actually doing on-the-field work with the police, you'll be expected to go into engagements first and foremost." The boy froze causing her to shake her head. "Why wouldn't it be like that? If we're even calling on you or cooperating with you, do you honestly think it's going to be an easy job?"

She walked to the blackboard and picked up some chalk before writing on the board.

"There are likely to be dangerous criminals," _"Roman Torchwick"_

"Big organizations that have rather infamous members" _"White Fang"_

"Or, the situation will call on your hardiness, experience, or Semblances" _"Bomb threats" "Ex-Huntsman criminals" "Grimm Bodyguard Detail"_

Putting down the chalk, she turned to the students. "There are numerous situations that you might be joining in on or being called in for."

"Today we'll practice some theory before moving to your simulation room to go through some exercises."

Coco flinched out of the peripheral of Obito's eye.

"So, to begin, we'll talk about actions that need to be taken by the police and Huntsmen."

She drew several circles, with four stars shapes in front of them behind a long rectangle.

"Say the police are the circles, the stars the Huntsmen, and this rectangle the cover we're using."

Across she put several triangles with the same rectangular cover.

"These are the enemy," she tapped on the triangles. "We're currently in the middle of a shootout, down town, what do you think the Huntsmen are supposed to do?" Ochre asked, looking around the room before picking the hand of Inosuke.

"ATTACK! DESTROY THEM BEFORE THEY BEAT US!" he shouted with a flex causing his classmates to chuckle.

"Hmm, does anyone else have a different opinion?" Tanjirou raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Um, shouldn't we be moving the civilians out of the way?" he asked, many nods coming from the students around him only to squawk as Ochre shook her head.

She drew lines from the "Huntsmen" to the sides of the "Enemies" while the "Police" moved out, some flanking the space in between the two covers and others moving away from the situation entirely.

"While barbaric, Inosuke is right to an extent," Ochre nodded. "You are the muscle should you be in these situations and do your best to keep attention on you and away from the non-powered civilians and police. The police will then help do the evacuation and reconvene on your location."

"Hmm," Tanjirou thought it over before raising his hand again and getting picked. "How often is a Huntsmen nearby?" He said causing Ochre.

"That depends," Ochre put her hands on her hips. "By law, unless accompanying an officer, a third year in a Huntsman Academy or senior Huntsmen who are also involved with the police, no students are counted as viable Huntsmen to be called on."

"What?! Why?!" Inosuke ranted as the blonde boy from earlier let out a breath of relief.

"Why do you think? You're all inexperienced. You having to ask that question alone tells me I couldn't trust you with a file folder much less someone's safety."

Inosuke fumed, a vein pulsing on the side of his mask as Tanirou tried to play Damage Control.

"Next scenario," Ochre erased the lines from the police side as well as the Huntsmen stars and the enemy triangles.

New oval shapes were drawn on the enemy side. Ochre tapped the board thrice as she looked at the huntsmen-in-training.

"The police are held down by enemy of Huntsmen-caliber," she ignored the 'WWWWWWWOOOOOOOO!' from Inosuke. "When facing opponents of such caliber, we're each," she pointed to herself of her trio of juniors. "Listed with a special number to contact all Huntsmen in the vicinity of three miles."

"Due to the scarcity of Huntsmen, most of which of out facing Grimm and other related matters, the range is used to gain as much help as possible."

Coco raised a hand and Ochre pointed at her with a narrowed gaze.

"U-Uh yeah," Coco sweat a bit. "So we're getting a special number for you guys, right?"

" _Yes_ , that number is called _9-1-1_." Laughter broke out around the class, Coco stuffed her face into her hands.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit. Just kill me." Ochre rolled her eyes as Marrone chuckled in the background.

"Damn, that wasn't well thought out." The male Faunus said with a shake of his head.

"Maybe she's not good at public speaking?" Liza offered.

"Not possible," the two turned to Obito. "Coco's typically extroverted from what I've seen, I don't think it's stage freight."

"Yeah, she seems super friendly and just talked about whatever." Liza nodded while Marrone sent Obito an amused look.

The adopted child felt his eyebrow twitch.

"But, what stops every Huntsmen from coming to the location?"

"There's a setting we have that allows us to gather the correct amount and there's a limit to how many we can have on-call."

"Next," Ochre added back in the "Enemies" and "Huntsmen" before writing a small "x" on the edge of one of the circles. "An officer has been injured."

"Is there poison in the wound?!"

"Is the blade serrated?!"

"Is it on fire?! Is the officer on fire?!"

"Was Dust involved?!"

Ochre mimicked Obito as a twitch developed on her brow.

"For the sake of _simplicity_ ," she hissed that last word. "It's a normal bullet or laceration that's NOT life-threatening." She saw that hand go back down. "This is very similar to the first scenario but its answer is more flexible."

Tanjirou's hand went up. "Can we personally move the officer?" Ochre nodded.

"Yes, in this situation, you're allowed to move the injured as your team handles taking the attention off you. Since it's a smaller amount of people, one of the Huntsmen _can_ choose to move them to safety."

"But just as well, if you have a Semblance for the situation you're obligated to hold back in case of injuries for your fellow Huntsmen or the officers themselves."

An interesting rule but it made sense. In his past years, Tsunade had set it up such that every ninja team needed a medic.

Huntsmen were literally given a personal medic with Aura and as such never thought to have the same arrangement. It's rather eye-opening to think how such a little change made them think differently about wounds.

"Are Huntsmen with healing Semblances rare?" Liza wondered. She'd never thought about it but she couldn't help but imagine that type of Huntsmen were flooded with offers and such.

That'd be the sort of income she could only dream of.

"Mmmm, nah!" Marrone shook his head with an annoyed expression. "I can't see that going well at all. Can you imagine getting hounded every day just because of a power that's _limited_ per day by how much Aura they have?"

Marrone grimaced. "That sounds like it's full of nothing but a life of dealing annoying people."

"Yeah, that would be a downside."

Obito watched Coco lay her head on her desk in dismay with a raised brow.

"Now, if we don't have any more questions, let's move on to the practical lessons." Ochre turned to Dalia. "Ms. Hawthorne, if you would."

"Of course, come students, we'll be going to the Simulation room."

"Ughhh…" Coco groaned to herself while her class cheered.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Marrone had to hold back his laughter as Inosuke jumped out of cover, _again_ , and was nailed with a negative response from both his teacher and Ochre.

Every. Single. Time. And it was funny even the fourth time.

"Inosuke," the Faunus officer called to the fuming Huntsmen-in-training. "You ever think that maybe you should be shouting to tell them where you are?"

The boy snorted through the nose of his mask before flailing about.

"I thought I was supposed to go out there and KILL THEM?!" a pop rang out and Inosuke hit the floor with a thud groaning before jumping to his feet and flipping out again.

'Maybe it's because you're _never_ behind cover in the first place.' Marrone thought as he looked off to the side of the rock they sat behind. Inosuke never seemed to listen to anyone, he noticed.

These Huntsmen Academies were ridiculous. All this money just to prepare the future protectors of society.

"Let's move, we'll circle around the side," Marrone suggested before he crouched to move along before turning to see Inosuke _walking while standing up_ and counted to seconds before another pop rang out.

Inosuke hit the floor again and squawked before running out to the open field.

Several more pops rang out and Marrone couldn't take it anymore.

"BWHAHAHAHHAA!"

*pop*

[br]

"O-Okay, this is the plan." Liza showed them a map, watching the blonde boy from before, Zenitsu he'd told her, focusing on it.

"U-Um," Zenitsu started catching her attention. "I can hear them over here."

He pointed to the "enemy" cover before moving his finger over to their left.

'That's an outcropping above us,' she crawled to the side of their cover and lifted one of her dog ears.

She heard the crunch and gestured Zenitsu forward.

"Alright, you go forward first."

"E-eh?" he stopped. "B-But you said we're not supposed to be considered viable help!" he yelped quietly; somehow.

"Zenitsu this is _your_ part in these operations," Liza gave him a bemused look. "I need you to take the lead here."

Zenitsu swallowed before they crept past their grassy cover and tiptoed to the side and up an incline.

Zenitsu shook with every step and she wondered if he'd even make it up the slope.

Turns out, no need to wonder as the second they rounded the corner and found the other team both looked at each other in shock.

Liza had her paintball gun out and let her gaze list to the side and groaned as she saw Zenitsu frozen solid.

'He might need some work.'

*pop*

* * *

"You're dragging too hard."

"S-Sorry!"

"Watch the leg, it's likely to be caught on any rough rubble and any injury will only be aggravated by contact."

"Y-Yes!"

"Another thing—"

"Damn Obito, no mercy huh?" Obito sent a glare Coco's way.

"Please take the injuries more seriously," Obito said before turning back to the rabbit Faunus moving him.

"Now, I'm unaware if you have a healing Semblance." She shook her head nervously.

"N-No sir!" Coco rolled her eyes. "No one in the class does, officer."

"Velvet for the love of the Brothers, he _doesn't care_ that you're a Faunus. For goodness's sake, you're carrying him in your _arms!_ "

He'd been set up with Coco and this Faunus girl named Velvet Scarlatina for their current scenario.

His current assessment of the situation was: Coco was too confident and Velvet was too skittish around people, humans especially, and had self-esteem issues.

In Velvet's arms, he could feel her shaking excessively as her quick breaths and the flush on her face was more from embarrassment than exertion.

Long brown hair with two rabbit ears covered in the same color as fur draped over a fair skin and dark brown eyes.

She had on a large brown sweater that could count as a dress with a yellow belt to hold it to her waist. Dark leggings poked out of the bottom of the sweater and lead into dirty combat boots.

She had no weapon on her that he could recognize but then again, as he'd just learn, Coco's _purse is a gun_.

Not just any gun, nnnnnnoooooooooo, a gargantuan _machine-gun_.

What form of logic on Remnant could possible even _explain_ that?!

"M-M-Mmm, mm, mm!" the girl looked like she was going to cry.

Coco sighed before crawling over to the crouched duo and held out her hands.

"Come on, just pass him here," Coco grinned as she said this.

He hated how he was subjugated to this but it was what it was… Dammit.

Shifting hands, Obito found himself in the arms of Coco who moved far faster than Velvet from cover to cover with a confidence he was surprised to see.

Setting him down, she pulled out a small gun and popped it into the air, ending the scenario.

Obito gave her a rather strange look.

"What? Wanna give your savior a Thank You Kiss? Well, I won't say no?" She leaned in and he pushed her face away before getting.

"Ooh, feisty!" she said as she also got up and they walked to the sidelines. Obito could see Velvet shuffling forward before catching his eye.

Hers widened and she looked down at her feet and slowed her gait, reaching the sidelines at half the speed as he and Coco.

"Do I need to be aware of something?" he turned to Coco, who blinked. "No offense Coco, but if your classmate were any slower she'd be in need of a medic for her catatonic state."

Coco ruffled the back of her head. "I don't know, really. We've met maybe a couple of times but Velvet's always been like that, at least around humans. Human guys, the most," Coco shrugged.

This class was full of problem children.

They met up at Ochre, who also gave Coco a raised brow.

"No seriously, why are you guys looking at me like that?" Coco's eyebrow ticked and Ochre looked back to her notes.

"Coco Adel: Pass." Coco grinned.

"Velvet Scarlatina: Fail" The Faunus scrunched in on herself even further.

"Apologies," Dalia walked up and gently lead Velvet and Coco off to the side with the other students. He noticed a few of them laughed a bit while a scant few others sneered and mumbled derisively.

He now noticed that, while her eyes were still red, Dalia's sclera were a normal white color compared to when she's in her cloak.

'Is it just a fortunate side effect? Perhaps it's when her power is fully activated.' Obito thought, as he lined up with Marrone and Liza, both of whom seemed incensed.

He didn't move his gaze from students. "Did something happen?"

"Tch, some of these guys are real pieces of work," Marrone grumbled.

"Maybe meeting Coco was a little bit disarming so we let our guard down around the students," Liza sighed out.

Drawing his eyebrows together, Obito already got the picture. "I see."

Drawing up a few more notes, Ochre finally addressed the large group of students.

"From today onwards, we'll be working on your abilities to follow procedure and practice. And as far as Day 1 goes," she tapped her pen against her clipboard. "It was acceptable."

The students murmured with smug grins and pats on the backs.

Ochre's eyes narrowed.

"That being said, every last one of you are in need of improvement. When the time comes, 'acceptable' is not going to cut it. I want 'excellence' in my squad both in and out."

"Then why did we have to get taught by a bunch of animals?!" came a voice that nearly had her snapping her pen.

Ms. Hawthorne's eyes narrowed on the individual and all eyes were on the young girl with a sneer on her lips.

Bright blue eyes, yellow hair, pale complexion, and an annoyed disposition created the face in the crowd. A short-sleeve white top that was topped with a necklace of white gold wrapped around a slender neck, feed downward into a pair of ebony capris and flat shoes.

Above-average height with straight hair was a girl sneering at the cops and teacher.

"Ms. Thompson, I'm going to ask you to mind your manners _everywhere_ lest you cause problems _again_ ," Dalia warned, eyes glowing as the teen scoffed.

"Teach we've been over this a dozen times," the Thompson girl rolled her eyes. "If a decision makes most of the class feel uncomfortable we bring it up right?"

"Yes, if it's _warranted_ Eliza Thompson," Eliza's sneer returned. "Whether or not you think you speak for the class, you have no handle situation to begin."

"Last I checked, more than half the class is human so getting taught by a Faunus is _discomforting_."

"Oh and what of your classmates, they all of a sudden don't care."

"They've been doing it for years why's that gotta change now," this brought a wave of glares from her Faunus classmates. "If that's what _all_ of us are used to, why does it need to change."

Both teacher and student glared at one another.

Obito could cut the intensity of the room with a kunai for how thick it was.

Four more days of this? Just put him out of his misery.

* * *

Day two wasn't looking good in any measure.

He eyed the Faunus boy with a raised brow as he stared at him with bloodshot eyes and an indifferent expression. A large bushy tail sat at his rear end and was as still as the boy himself and scars littered his face like some kind of complete Jigsaw puzzle.

They sat crouched behind cover, Obito's back against the rock face as he peered out the side of his protection.

"Alright, what's your Semblance?" He asked, never turning his head towards the boy in question.

"…"

"Hello," Obito turned and caught the boy's gaze again. "I need to know what you can do so we can make our plan effective."

"… Genya" he said and Obito nodded with a bemused look.

"Yes, I'm well aware Genya but right now's not exactly the best time to be discussing names and such. We need to explore your abilities to finish the exercise." Obito eyed another large rock. "On my signal, we move."

"Where are we going?" he asked and the officer felt like he was making some progress before pointing at the rock ahead.

"That on—" He'd barely been able to get the word out before Genya sped off towards the rockface and cursed.

He'd been hoping, mind you, that this wouldn't happen but guess how his luck was.

'Damn that girl,' he thought as he peeked his head out and noted a slight ruckus coming from the enemy cover and sighed.

He dashed and slid behind the rock, only to find Genya not there and grit his teeth. He looked up with an annoyed expression at the staring Genya.

"Genya this isn't a plan—"

"It's _my_ plan," the raccoon Faunus interrupted before skittering across a rock bridge. Obito followed with little difficulty but a growing headache.

Genya looked annoyed as well as he stared back at Obito with the same amount of contempt the officer felt.

"You squishy _human_ civilians need to learn to follow orders if we Huntsman are going to help."

"And I'm sure jail is _just a room_ for insubordination, save me the theatrics what is this about?" Obito strained as they got closer to the sounds of arguing going on at the other side.

Genya ignored him before leaping over a steep incline and landing on the other.

The Faunus turned to see Obito landing right behind him with a grimace and a growl.

The continued like this before being behind the bickering enemy.

"What is your problem?!"

"I don't know maybe it's your attitude?!"

"Coco, please, it's fine, you need to at least be the one worried about their performance."

"The hell you tryin' to say about me, you mutt?!"

Obito pinched the bridge of his nose before unceremoniously stepping out of cover and putting the paintball gun to the racist human girl's head.

The click caused her to freeze, slowly turning to the annoyed male officer.

*pop*

* * *

Genya ignored him completely and Obito couldn't help but take the same measure lest he tear down the boy with ruthless efficiency as they walked towards an exasperated looking Marrone. Velvet stood behind him and Obito couldn't help but ignore the girl altogether.

No offense to her.

"This is getting out of control." Marrone rubbed his eyes.

"Tell me about it, it was a simple scenario: Get me, the injured, to safety. They're strong kids, hell Velvet here could probably bench me with one hand."

The rabbit Faunus looked down.

"What do I get? Asking if I want to be fed too," Obito facepalmed. "I don't like where this is going man, it's like we're in the middle of a civil war."

More of a race war and if he was correct this behavior would only get worse if any of them got agitated with the wrong race of students.

"Can I leave?" came Genya's question but Obito saw the way he only looked at Marrone and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you can."

"…"

"… Just follow what he says, please." Marrone begged causing the boy to narrow his eyes at Obito's fellow officer before walking away.

"… This is only going to get worse, isn't it?"

Obito sighed as he saw a nervous Liza coming up to them with Liza behind her.

Just one little genjutsu is all it would take, is what he'd say if Aura wasn't designed to make his life difficult.

Aura didn't bend to his will with a normal Sharingan. It didn't like changing form and always sprung back to its owner's shape every chance it got. It was why he had to create anchors on the walls to walk on it.

And wouldn't you know it, a bunch of hormonal, stupid, racist teenagers with Aura!

"Here he is," Liza said with straining patience.

Ah, yes, the leader of all this rebellion _DAY ONE_ into this simple assignment turned into a class civil war.

"Can I help you?" Eliza nodded.

"I need to get something from my backpack in the classroom and wanted permission to go get it." She said so matter-of-factly he almost did a double-take. Hell, all three of them looked at her like she was insane.

He stared at her before something in him strained.

Do. Not. STRANGLE CHILD.

"Yes… Yes, you can." It was robotic in tone but the girl didn't seem to care and marched off without a care in the world.

The three of them sat there for what felt like years before Marrone said something.

"She's a bitch," it sounded like he was too surprised to be angry. "She's all the world's problems all rolled up into a ball and unleashed upon the populace." An exaggeration, sure, but Obito wasn't the least bit ashamed to say he'd thought such if only for a moment.

"So, all in favor of trying to throw this in her face as hard possible, say 'aye'." Said with a twitch to his lip.

" **Aye**." Came the responses from his co-workers.

"So, I can't really think about how we can divide and conquer racism in under a week." Marrone rubbed his chin. "I mean, it's _still_ hasn't been solved today."

They put their heads together and thought this out.

Obito couldn't help but go back to the times of his tenure as Akatsuki's shadow leader. The one thing that he remembered vividly was Itachi taking the Village of the Waterfalls under his control with nary but a finger.

* * *

" _It only takes one person to cause a domino effect. People are simply idiotic, a person can be controlled and change the group. Little by little."_

* * *

He tried to apply this to his current situation and gasped at the idea. That might work but it involved him actually giving some ground to these brats and while he didn't like it, he'd do so.

If only to see how far he got with it.

"I have an idea," he said and explained the idea to his Faunus squadmates.

"Hmm, it could work but it really does rely on getting them to talk to us." Marrone closed his eyes and tapped the side of his noggin. A light bulb went off in his mind and he grinned.

"Hehe, we've been looking at this training exercise all wrong. Be realistic, have you guys actually talked to your 'Huntsmen' allies?"

Obito frowned. "I've been doing what we were told and trying to get them to understand the lesson."

"A little encouragement on my end but about the same." Liza pipped.

"So let's turn these scenarios into therapy sessions."

* * *

Day three came and they arrived at the school with determination in their hearts and fire in their eyes.

When it came to the scenarios being set up, Obito was shocked to find himself teamed up with none other but the source of their problems.

"Ah, glad to see a nice face for once," Eliza held out a hand. "Name's Eliza Thompson but ya can call me Liz." He looked at the hand for a couple seconds before shaking it.

"I'll be in your care, Huntress," she grinned at him.

They moved behind cover and he saw that Liza was left with a human boy, the kid grumbling and sending glares Liza's way, before ducking underneath.

He thought for a moment on how to start a conversation.

"Hey, hey, hey," Liz snapped her fingers. "I got some questions I wanna ask ya."

Operation Get Her to Talk just took off on its own. Very well.

"Yes?"

"Give it to me straight, why do you hang around those two?" his eyes narrowed.

"You mean my co-workers," she nodded.

"How could you possibly be anywhere within a mile radius of them without one of them asking for a treat?" she cracked a grin. "I'd have thrown some kibble in another direction and found some real company." She snickered.

He wasn't even remotely amused.

"What is your problem, anyway?" he asked causing her to stop and look at him weirdly.

"Watcha talkin' 'bout?" Was she clueless?

"You know what I mean, Ms. Thompson. Why are you going out of your way to both agitate my co-workers," she rolled her eyes.

Shivered ran down her spine and she stopped breathing under his intense gaze.

"No, we're not playing one of your _fucking games_ , answer the question." His voice was taut and icy, brokering a no-nonsense answer.

She sneers. "Oh, so your one of those animal-fuckers."

"It's called _being a decent person_ but I guess you wouldn't know about that, would you?" His eyes narrowed. "Why are you even IN a combat school, when all you want to do is make the world a worse place?"

"Don't give me that shit, you fucking civvie, last I checked I don't let dogs sit at tables."

"Then _you_ better learn your place and sit on the goddamn floor." She looked like he had slapped her. "Do you ever think about what you're about say? About how much trouble you've caused? And for no damn reason, at that?" he was fed up with her and, considering he'd barely spoken to this girl, that was a hard to earn accomplishment.

"Tch, great another one of these lectures," her eyes could have rolled out of her head. "I don't need to hear about how 'peaceful' it'd be if I just shut my mouth you fuck."

He zoned in on that. "Which one of them hurt you?"

"You say somethin'? Couldn't hear you over all the literal pussy cat you eat." A vein formed.

"Oh so you're also deaf with that bad attitude of yours, why am I not surprised?"

This plan had gone off the rails quickly and it wasn't getting back on without a little humility on both ends. He needed to make her vulnerable first.

He breathed in and let it all come to him.

"What has any of your classmates done to you that could possibly make you this bitter towards them?" she ignored him but that was fine, he was probing for a reaction. "What? They hurt your family?"

She flinched and he'd drag that thread all the way.

"Not your business."

"So it was family," he said, seeing her teeth. "Was it a parent?"

Her lips thinned but he acted like he didn't care. "What? Was it your sister, getting into trouble on the way home—?"

She'd grabbed him by the grab him by the scruff of his shirt and pressed him into the ground.

" _If you ever_ —"

"If I ever 'what'?" he gave no ground. "Did I hit a nerve? Did I make you angry? Does that upset you?"

"You know _nothing_ , of what I've been through!" she hissed, still keeping her voice.

"Yes, please tell me your life story, please tell me what could _possibly_ make you think you've made great choices any time in your godforsaken life."

She grit her teeth, "Unlike you, who grew up in warm beds me and my sister had to sleep in streets. Unlike you," she shook him with a rough knuckle in his chest. "I didn't get to keep this fake idea of what a Faunus is actually like."

He stared at her. "No matter, what you say _doesn't_ make it right." He said matter-of-factly.

She stared at him and dropped him, likely doing it so she could see him bounce his head on the solid floor.

He still looked up at her face, judging her, determining her worth. It made her hate him even more.

"We were taken in by a Faunus couple who also lived on scraps. We were happy for once, not warm but we huddle together to get through those colder nights." She looked to the side.

"And then," she clenched her fist. "We got attacked by a bunch of assholes. Humans, like me. My male Faunus started getting aggressive. Attacking me and then… Going after my little sister." She hissed and slammed a hand against their cover, cracking the rock face as spirals of Aura expanded the cracks.

"Mom… she just _watched it_. She stood there and didn't DO anything. Day in and day out until I found a gun and…" she gasped and looked at him.

She saw him close his eyes and finish her sentence. "And you shot him, killed him. Your mother probably resented you as you held the gun at her and took your little sister with you. Am I right?"

"I will never forgive them for what they did to us. They will never have that." She finished before settling on the floor, letting out small breaths.

They sat in silence as he digested all that she'd given him. Deciding what to do here wasn't going to be easy but he had to start somewhere.

"And that's why you bully your classmates?" she didn't look at him. "Have you ever thought for a second that you're doing the exact same thing your father did to you?" he could see her clench her teeth and sighed.

Liz heard the ruffling of clothes and turned to see Obito opening up his top and stared for what felt like an eternity.

Scars littered every bit of his torso, long ones, ragged short ones, teeth marks, and even thin needle-like ones.

"Half of these scars are from a Faunus I knew," her eyes went wide. "I'm adopted into a different family now but I used to live with a human father who thought 'Might made Right' and subjected every one of his children to a lifestyle of pain and suffering."

"All for a good fight one day, when I was born, neither of my siblings were up to his standard by the time they'd reached twenty and discarded them and tried for another child, who would be me."

"Every able body person he knew, he made fight me. He made me fight bandits, murderers, White Fang," she couldn't breathe. "All while under the age of ten. The White Fang was the worst though, the ones he found we radicals and he killed most of them and said this to the remaining ones."

* * *

" _Use whatever weapon you like, bite him, burn him, scratch him, and if you kill him, you will receive your freedom."_

* * *

"N-no…" Obito nodded before buttoning up his shirt.

"They were put in a situation where a young child, human or not, had to be killed and do you know what happened?" she stayed staring where he'd closed his shirt. "Half of them decided to try and kill me while the others just watched."

She choked.

"I killed every single one of those who tried and my father killed the rest, calling them cowards." Obito shook his head, eyes alight with a sliver of red. "I will hate that man for the rest of my years until I end him but I will not hate those Faunus who tried to or didn't try to help me."

"Not because I forgave them out of the goodness of my heart but because _I_ couldn't go around living like that. I couldn't hold prejudice for something they couldn't control or even just say they're all radicals just because of that. I meet and greet my Faunus co-workers, move that rabbit Faunus elderly woman across the street with a lift of my elbow, I make sure cases involving Human-Faunus altercations with impartiality for both sides."

He held out a hand, she stared at it before taking hold of it and allowing him to help pull her up.

"No matter what happens to you Liz, the other half of the world doesn't need to hurt just because you were hurt by a few of them." He looked at his Scroll and noted it'd been fifteen minutes and beckoned her to follow him.

They leisurely crept along the outer sides of the arena and made their way towards the "Enemy" side.

"… You realize that doesn't change anything right?" he turned at her voice and saw her look away from him. He nodded.

"I'm not expecting a public apology or anything, just so you know. All I'm trying to do is impress upon you that your way of thinking is only ever going to make things worse." He said, to which, she had no response.

They leaned over the cliff edge and watched as hugged the shaking human boy. Looking up with tear tracks down her face, she caught sight of Obito and Liz.

Liz turned away, an arm rubbing her forearm, and Obito nodded.

Liza held the boy closer, covering his ears, before firing off the signal of their surrender.

The quartet of police officers and students at a brisk pace the boy who'd been crying earlier sniffled but seemed far more enlightened than before while Liz walked with a look of concentration.

Liza and Obito looked each other's way, Liza smiling and Obito wearing a more peaceful expression than before.

Ochre looked at them and her gaze softened before telling the students to go sit down.

"You guys seemed to deal with the objective remarkably well. I didn't hear Thompson or Pascal throwing insults Carmel's way," Ochre gave them both incredibly proud looks. "Sometimes work for us can include stuff like this, I'm glad you guys came up with it."

"We're happy we got through to them ourselves, ma'am," the female Faunus officer said with a cross of the arms and her grin shining through.

"Now we just have to get through to the others." Ochre nodded.

"I'll do my best to help out and I've noticed that it's not just you trying," Ochre gesture flicked her head in the direction of the class of students and they could see Tanjirou off to the side, talking animatedly with a girl. A Faunus girl with purple eyes, a ponytail with a butterfly pin, a pair of antennae and a blank expression.

"Alright!" Liza slapped a hand on her bicep. "Let's do this!"

* * *

Velvet couldn't help but listen in on the Faunus officer, Marrone if she remembered correctly, talk to the girl behind the rock.

She could hear girl letting out weak grunts and, if she were, to be honest, pretty pathetic and weak arguments.

"Come on, you're supposed to be a Huntress-in-training! You've got this, you just have to show your father that working together with Faunus isn't something that'll bring you down and destroy your future."

"*Snff* Y-Yeah!"

Velvet tilted her head.

What was going on with these cops?

[br]

He'd been paired up with Genya again, the boy shuffling in place while glancing at the ground.

Obito stared at him for a moment and rolled out a map.

"So where do you think we should start?" he asked but Genya looked at him with a tilted head.

"?"

"Genya I'm asking if you have a plan?" the boy looked startled.

"U-Um," he finally looked at the map. "Um, right, right. I… I'll head around the side then."

"Then I'll provide fire from this side,' Obito nodded. "Should the enemy push ahead what should we do?"

He caught eyes with the boy and Genya's gaze turned away.

"W-We should…" he stuttered and Obito noted that the confidence from their previous encounter was all for naught.

'He did it on a whim and can't follow through due to not being able to make the move on the fly,' Obito realized.

"How about we go over what we know about the other team?" the cop offered and the raccoon Faunus nodded.

"My fellow cop is named Marrone and he's more the type to wait it out," he pointed to their rock and slid his finger to Marrone's. "He will be perfectly aware if we get up close." Genya looked confused.

"How?"

"Marrone has a seemingly incredible sense of touch and balance." Genya's eyes went wide.

"Like Inosuke?" Obito blinked before closing his eyes and breathing in. "Inosuke says he grew up in the wilds, learning how different steps, vibrations, and the like, feel."

"That's a rather impressive ability and I can assume that's not his semblance." Genya nodded.

"Very well, good to know but we're getting off track, what about your classmate across the way?" Genya grunted and looked in the enemy's direction.

"Kanao's sight is probably the best in the class, some say she can see the pin code of a locker from a football field away. Her Semblance is… confusing, it's like a cartoon."

Obito blinked. "Rather specific but it's empirical enough that I can make use of it. What habits would you say she has?"

[br]

Kanao blinked as she hid behind cover.

"Come on, what can ya tell me about your classmate over there?"

"..." she turned to look at Marrone with her heterochromatic eyes of purple and grey. "You can see anything from there?" her feelers twitched before she brought out her Scroll.

 _Genya usually uses his sense of taste to find people and detect changes in the air, he doesn't have a Semblance yet. You?_

Marrone thought about it before nervously chuckling.

"We might need a _really good_ strategy," she shot him a curious glance so he elaborated. "My officer over there is rather amazing for his age. Top marks in all categories, Strategy, Gun work, knowledge, team composition, and more stuff than I remember actually being in the Academy." Marrone actually had to think about that because it sounded like more classes than he remembered being at that place before shrugging.

Kanao gave him a weird look before she typed something onto her Scroll and showed him it.

 _You get along Wwell?_

He looked at the Scroll and hummed. "Hmm, I guess you could say that he doesn't really talk about himself that much. Real strict at work kind of guy, I don't know what he's like outside of it, hehe," Marrone chuckled to himself. "I bet he's the same outside of it, all work and no fun."

Kanao looked down for a moment and began tapping on her Scroll again.

 _I'm sorry for getting off track…_

"Nah, it's fine. Come on, let's brainstorm for a bit. What should we do?" Marrone scratched his chin and looked at Kanao more seriously.

She looked away from his gaze and put her hands on the ground. In the next second, a blackish ink rolled out from underneath her hand and settled into a circle.

Marrone blinked before putting his hand on it and watching as the appendage went _in_ and kept going before Kanao pushed him back.

He blinked and watched as the blackhole-ish hole shrunk and disappeared. The male Faunus blinked twice before a smirk found itself on his lips.

"What else can you do with it?"

* * *

Genya looked down from his perch on a high outcropping and watched as Marrone snuck around the space beneath him. Genya frowned as he didn't find Kanao and flicked his tongue out at frequent intervals.

He shuffled in place and moved to follow after older male Faunus and froze as he tasted the air. He was tackled into an awaiting hole.

* * *

Something went wrong the moment he couldn't feel Genya's presence anymore, sensing became a much more clear art after he'd become the Jyubi and he made use of that ability to the greatest of its ability as much as he could nowadays.

He felt Marrone coming and knew this was part of his plan. His objectives changed and he felt for that strange girl Kanao.

He felt nothing and then the burst of presence from their cover across the way.

He didn't stay behind his cover anymore and dashed around the side of it. He ran low, gait silent before he pulled up on Marrone. The other junior officer already had his paint gun up and shot off three rounds…

Into a black hole on his side.

Obito bent backward, a black hole opening up to his left on the Cliffside and he leaped back. Obito watched as the hole closed and Kanao stepped out.

Obito Midoriya was a normal cop, an exceptional one but still a civilian, and normal civilian cops didn't decide to go head-to-head with a huntress and armed personnel.

He raised his hands in defeat and shot off the flare signaling his defeat.

'So much for the plan,' which was fine, honestly. This wasn't a death battle and he wasn't planning on making it one.

* * *

"You did well, Genya, I couldn't plan for her ambushing you like that," the lie left his lips easily. Play the part of a civilian in over their heads.

The young Faunus looked down in defeat before nodding his head. Marrone clasped a hand on the young man's shoulder and gave a thumbs-up.

"You did amazing, Kanao," Marrone grinned at the young Faunus girl, who looked down in embarrassment as Obito nodded.

"I wasn't prepared for you rather 'cartoony' Semblance," Obito added, getting a raised brow from Marrone who turned his head Genya's way.

Genya had slammed his hands into his face as he burned red with embarrassment, much to Marrone's amusement.

* * *

Throughout the day, things were moving forward. Obito could see Genya talking to Tanjirou, the human boy talking amicably and animated while Genya was giving the other teen a strange look.

He sat by himself on the bleachers and just… _relaxed_. That'd been a foreign concept these past few days but he could now sit and allow his mind to go through the pac-

"Ah, here you are," came Ms. Hawthorne's voice as she walked over to him.

So much for a few moments of peace.

She looked beyond pleased, a smile nearly splitting her face that just radiated 'Happiness'.

"Can I just say, on behalf of all the students, thank you!" He nodded.

"It's fine. We all did our part in trying to beset the situation. Though I'm sure this won't solve everything."

Dalia's smile softened but remained. "I'm sure that your impact will be a lot more extensive compared to my own," she sat down and looked at all the students fumbling about each other like normal.

With the past couple of days, this was a blessed scene.

"I've never seen Elizabeth that calm before," she gestured to the sitting by herself Elizabeth Thompson. "Usually she'd be surrounded by her like-minded peers but I see none of them."

"If we've gotten through to them like we hope we have, this should be the start of a new normalcy," Obito said as he leaned back. "Anything that comes after this will probably have a harder time taking root." Dalia nodded to this, smile practically stitched to her face.

"Ah, Obito!" Obito could see Tanjirou running up to them with both Inosuke and that Faunus girl, Kanao, trailing behind him and Zenitsu trailing behind them with a ragged look on his face.

"Tanjirou?" Obito raised a brow as he got up to greet the younger boy.

"Hmm!" his student nodded with a thousand-watt smile. "I just wanted to introduce you to someone." Tanjirou stepped to the side, beckoning Kanao forth.

The girl just kind of stood there. Blank eyes stared at him and Obito saw her antennae twitch but that was about all that he got from her body movement.

"Slow and easy Kanao, good luck!" Tanjirou threw a thumbs up from the side causing Obito to raise a brow.

"Do it like the Almighty Boss Inosuke!" The boar mask-wearing student crossing his arms over his chest before throwing up dual thumbs-ups.

Zenitsu looked at the two boys with an annoyed expression. "Oi! Don't go pushing people to do whatever you want!" Tanjirou looked alarmed.

"Oh," he looked surprised. "You're right Zenitsu, Kanao do you want to do this?" he asked with worried eyes before being whacked on the back of the head by Zenitsu.

"Stop looking at people like some sort of lost puppy! We can't say no to THAT!"

"Sorry, sorry?"

'What is all this about?' he thought before focusing on the still girl in front of him.

Actually, no, she wasn't still. He noticed the tiny, insignificant, shivers about her and saw her eyes twitch from him to Tanjirou and back.

She held a hand to her chest and breathed in.

She looked at him and immediately brought out a coin that had Tanjirou groaning and Dalia letting out a nervous chuckle from behind him.

"Don't take it personally, Kanao has a hard time talking to people," Dalia said as she got up and came upon his right. "She will typically bring out a small app on her Scroll." She emphasized her point by pointing ahead and Obito turned to see Kanao looking down and pushing forward her Scroll.

 _Hhello_

He stared at it before responding. "Good afternoon Ms. Kanao."

She looked at him with a bewildered look before typing something on her Scroll and showing it to him.

 _My name is Kanao Tsuyuri. Nice to meet you._

She actually smiled this time, the expression looking slightly forced but genuine in the attempt. Tanjirou smiled at this and nodded to Obito before helping to lead Kanao away. Zenitsu lambasted Tanjirou the whole way as Inosuke proceed to annoy the blonde teen.

Obito stared after them before he heard a stifled laugh from Dalia and gave her a flat look.

"Oh, don't mind her. I'm actually rather proud of the attempt," she beamed at him. "Kanao's a sweet girl but doesn't open up to people, much less humans, at all. Were it not for Tanjirou."

Obito looked back to the leaving group with more understanding.

'Tanjirou's a lot like Naruto in that regard,' tt was a rather amusing thought to have. Naruto seemed to always get people to see the best in themselves and open up, whether you'd want to or not.

Dalia gave him a smile and walked after the quartet of students.

 _ **~NRK~**_

They all sunk into their seats, as the soft hum of the car engine signaled their departure from VCS.

"My goodness," Liza let her head fold over the top of her headrest with closed eyes. "Today was a killer."

"Tell me about it," Marrone yawned as he let his head lull to the side before smacking his lips. "I've talked enough to last a lifetime, I'm so dead."

Obito shot the two of them an amused look before turning back to the front and closing his eyes.

He never thought dealing with teenagers could be so tiring. He couldn't imagine what it was like trying to steer a squad of genin if teenagers tired him out mentally.

Then again, Kakashi seemed to have screwed a good head onto Sasuke's and Naruto's shoulders, all things considered.

Maybe he would have liked taking care of a couple of kids his own but good luck for that happening now.

Obito Uchiha was simply too far gone for such things. He couldn't imagine having to take care of his own flesh and blood.

These thoughts could be shelved for 'Never', he supposed, they'd do him no good.

Besides, he had to be prepared for tomorrow. Heads up from Ochre made it so they were all well aware of what was to come.

For now, he'd focus on his rest. Everything, Orichalcum included, could take a backseat for today.

Ochre let a small smile come to her lips as she heard soft snoring come from the back seat and small breaths from her right.

She turned her sights forward and frowned at the tug to her right.

'What's your involvement in all of this?'

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **And we mosey onward past chapter 7 and surge toward chapter 8!**_

 _ **Small bits of information added here and there that have importance character-wise and history-wise.**_

 _ **Ch. 8: 3.5k+ written.**_

 _ **The next chapter leads us back into plot-relevant events.**_

 _ **See ya'll in the next one!**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	8. Interlude - Character Bios

_**Interim! I'm just gonna be giving this character sheet to you all since I heard that some of the characters are hard to envision.**_

 _ **Enjoy**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

Current Character Bios:

 _ **Ochre Adel:**_

The older sister to Coco Adel, age 26, and also a senior cop. The one who pays the bill, dubbed by Coco, with a strict attitude and usually seen wearing an impassive expression. She was the one who formally invited Obito to the ranks of the police department and is also his current acting FTO along with both his female Faunus teammate Liza Carmel and his male Faunus teammate Marrone Celeste.

 **Appearance:** Long, ruffled, brown hair that hangs over pale skin and leads down to her upper back. Ochre has purple eyes and usually has on a pair of glasses. She stands at 5'8 with a seemingly average build, as far as Obito knows. She bares no distinguishing marks or scars.

 _ **Coco Adel:**_

The younger sister of Ochre Adel, age 15 soon to be 16, and a student at the combat school VCS. The sassy younger sibling, Coco is a more socially adept person in comparison to her sister which leads to no shortage of Ochre's headaches. Met Obito through Ochre and sees him as a fellow peer, considering they're, biologically, two years apart. Aims to be a Huntress.

 **Appearance:** Medium length brown hair, with a single wavy bang colored yellow, frames her pale skin and face, not unlike her sister. Coco sports brown eyes and a pair of small black sunglasses that sit on the bridge of her nose. Standing at 5'7, her build is lean but athletic, remarked by Obito as, despite her slender frame, being able to punch a hole in cement.

 _ **Marrone Celeste:**_

A male feline Faunus junior cop, in the same squad as Obito Midoriya, age 18. A young male Faunus with a rather laid back attitude and positive personality.

 **Appearance:** Black hair that flares out on its sides and frames the face that matches his cat ears. Marrone has chocolate-colored skin and wields a pair of bright yellow eyes with slits. An average and unassuming build that Obito feels is off and an untrustworthy assessment the older but younger man standing at Obito's own height of 5'6.

 _ **Liza Carmel:**_

A female canine Faunus junior cop, in the same squad as Obito Midoriya, age 18. A young female Faunus with a more cautious attitude in comparison to her male teammates. She has a love for history that stems from her mother who's an archeologist.

 **Appearance:** Light blond hair that covers her head in a ruffled style with a tuft hanging above her forehead with same color dog ears adorning the top of her head. Liza has light tan skin and wields a set of scars on her arms and ears. She has an average build for a woman and stands at about 5'6 along with her fellow teammates.

 _ **Qrow Branwen:**_

A nearly always drunk Huntsmen that embodies the concept of bad luck as a Semblance, Qrow Branwen is a man of many facets. Qrow is rather informal with most if not all people he meets, usually using slurred speech on account of his usually non-sober status. Qrow is into his mid-thirties the same as his twin sister Raven.

 **Appearance:** A tall individual of six feet with a seemingly lanky body type. With black and grey hair, along with his pale skin and red eyes, Qrow can be a rather threatening figure were it not for his usual intoxicated state. That said, with his sharp eyes, stubble, and sharp chin line, Qrow actually commands _some_ respect, the first impression usually being as far as it goes.

 _ **Obito (Uchiha) "Branwen" Midoriya (Adopted):**_

Our titular main character and a reincarnated shinobi of an older time, Obito 'Branwen' Midoriya is a former madman and rehabilitated kind soul, though he doesn't think so. While it doesn't show, Obito Uchiha doesn't believe he deserves and can't come to terms with it more often than not.

Of all the characters, Obito is mentally the oldest while biologically one of the youngest. This dissonance doesn't endear him to his fellow teens, as far as school was concerned. While he interacts with Coco, he's far and away distant to her socially and does his best to keep it that way with Coco not taking the hint.

Reborn as the third child to the man known as Kojiro Branwen and youngest brother to Qrow and Raven Branwen, his twin elder siblings. Obito's past is a mystery to those who know him, save for his direct blood and adopted families and the people in his small hometown. His father's ambitions for him to be powerful is something he never got the reason for but he didn't care, he planned to kill that man if not for the sake of doing good than for the sake of his family.

 **Appearance:** His appearance didn't really change at all save for one of his bangs being white. Obito had short, spiky, black hair with a fringe being stark white, with peach skin and dark silver eyes. With years of rough training of his own and his father's makings, Obito's body is the very pinnacle of people on Remnant with Aura. At age 17 and standing at 5'6, most people wouldn't consider him a threat outside of occupation.

 _ **Elizabeth Thompson:**_

A rather rude and aloof girl that met the cops on the second day of cops' week to teach her class. A racist due to terrible upbringing and past experience, Liz's attitude around people and Faunus is like night and day. After instigating a racism divide in her class, she was given the third degree and therapy by Obito Midoriya. While not much different she's more receptive to others and Faunus, at least a bit.

 **Appearance:** A tall girl, the tallest of her class, who stood at 5'9. Her hair was straight, long, and pale blond, reaching down to the small of her back. Elizabeth has pale blue eyes and shares a similar body type to Coco, much to both girls' annoyance.

 _ **Inosuke:**_

A boar mask is always seen on his head that is a series of grey colors with blue, bulging, eyes at the sides of the mask itself. An excitable boy, Inosuke is both rambunctious and energetic that is aided by his fish-out-of-water antics and his surprisingly flexible body. Attends Vale Combat School alongside Coco, Velvet, and Liz, and was encouraged by Tanjirou to attend.

 **Appearance:** Standing at a surprisingly average height of 5'5, Inosuke's build is anything but as his body is well-formed and adept at taking action and moving at any kind of angle.

 _ **Velvet Scarlatina:**_

An easily startled female rabbit Faunus that attends Vale Combat School. Velvet is a not a person Obito has a high opinion.

 **Appearance:** Long brown hair that flows down to the small of her back that has a set of rabbit ears at the top of her head. Velvet has peach skin and brown eyes along with a lithe build usually hidden under a large dress.

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **Chapter 8 is just about finished and should be released sometime in the following days**_

 _ **Ciao!**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	9. Deeper We Go

_**Here we go, folks! Chapter 8 as promised within the following days after the character bios**_

 _ **Which, by the way, should have included Dalia but I totally forgot so expect that later on. That said, I hope you enjoy this one.**_

 _ **On with the show!**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

He sat with Marrone and Liza near board once more, watching as ochre announced their new development. A new set of cops had arrived, Iruka leading and stood behind Ochre directly.

"Along with my fellow officers we'll be conducting a Field test," Ochre said causing the students to perk up and cheer at the prospect of getting literal experience.

"Yeah!" Inosuke jumped on his desk and shouted in excitement. "It's time to show the world the might of the Almighty Lord Inosuke!"

"Tsk!" Coco grumbled to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose.

'Time to fuck up an actual operation,' she thought bitterly. What a good time to show to the civvies that she was untrustworthy. Maybe she could get into her sister's squad and convince Obito to assuage her woes.

That or bother him, either/or really. Anything to take her mind off this exercise.

"How do you think we'll be set up?" Liza asked, tilting her head before looking up in thought. "How big will these groups be?"

"I'm thinking that we'll have maybe five to a group," Marrone counted each squad of police officers. "Ideally? Probably like one per squad-mate, so about four for us." The male Faunus shrugged. "I think we've seen the worst these kids could throw at us."

"Maybe, some of them weren't as receptive as I'd like though," Liza stated with a frown.

'You couldn't win them all,' she knew this phrase to be true but that didn't stop her from worrying about team friction.

"We'll just have to see what happens," Obito added. "Though, I have little doubt we're going to get a group that's not team material."

"Hmm," Marrone thought it over. "Well, with our luck, that seems about right, ahehe," he chuckled nervously at the possibility.

Things couldn't be any crazier, right?

* * *

Glad to see their luck holding up.

Coco Adel tracked just barely behind Ochre, an indifferent look on her face, as Elizabeth Thompson trailed behind her.

Velvet Scarlatina walked near the only other female Faunus in the vicinity, basically stuck to Liza's side, as she did her best to stay as far away from Liz as possible.

And last, but certainly not the least of Obito's headaches, was Inosuke who found himself looking around with barely restrained excitement. The group of eight walked out of VCS and went around the side of the combat school to arrive at the police car.

It was a different car they'd rode in on the way here, a bigger vehicle that could seat exactly nine people.

Perfect for the eight of them along with some extra space for the huntsmen-/huntresses-in-training to place their weapons, if need be.

Boarding the vehicle, the group found themselves order as such from right side of the car to the left:

In the back: Obito, Inosuke, Liz

Middle: Velvet, Liza, Marrone

Front: Coco, free space, Ochre (at the wheel on the left side of the car)

They took off, Ochre already having a destination in mind.

As they moved, all the cops could see just how uncomfortable the younger teens were sans Inosuke who was glued to the window as scenery passed by, leaning over Obito with not even an 'excuse me'.

Obito leaned back and crossed his arms, eyes focusing on the roof as he ignored Inosuke for his own thoughts.

Throughout this whole situation, he'd completely ignored the feeling he'd received once he'd enter Dalia's homeroom.

'I've still got no clue if it's her doing or not,' he thought. He ran through his memory of the week, ignoring all the annoyance he'd built up over the duration of it and focused on the feeling he'd had over it.

The moment he entered the classroom, he'd felt like he was being… manipulated? It was a weird feeling he couldn't define as any other word. Was this part of being aware of magic? But he'd not gone through whatever ritual they'd used to awaken the power.

He couldn't remember if he'd ever had a feeling like this befor-

* * *

 _His Aura was overbearing, that's all he could think, as his breath left his lungs with another kick._

 _Obito crashed against another tree, his young body calling out for rest but his mind ignoring it. This young body was troubling at best and downright horrifying at worst._

 _This body needed conditioning of the worst kind and that was perhaps the_ one _thing he'd thank his father for. The man had no remorse when it came to training Obito._

 _The man had pulled some bullshit some months ago that had earned his Obito's eternal ire._

' _The day when we fight to the death will be one I forever remember,' Obito thought._

 _He couldn't remember the last time he'd ever hated someone, no, wait, he could. It was the last time before he met Naruto, in which he given up on the real world._

When Kakashi had been forced to kill Rin. _That defining moment that turned him into Madara's ally and puppet for the man's whims. Obito had_ hated _the world at large at that point but he'd hated one thing more than that at that moment._

 _The Mist ninjas. He'd killed them without remorse and turned his anger, his true anger, outward for the first time in his life._

 _He hoped his eventual fight with this man, his father, went the same way._

 _Kojiro Branwen was a dead man walking, whether he knew it or not._

 _That overbearing feeling fell upon him once more and he dodged to the side, the tree falling to the side in his place, a shimmer of light being the only indication that something happened._

* * *

'Oh _shit_.'

That… that couldn't possibly mean anything good. That could also mean that that man was more powerful than he let on.

Fuck.

"…Oi! Oi!" He was broken out of his thoughts by some rather vicious shaking from Inosuke.

He looked at the boar mask in front of his face with a flat expression.

"Yes?"

"We're almost there!" Inosuke's voice jumped a pitch as grabbed Obito's shoulders and pushed his mask in the cop's face.

"That's very nice Inosuke," Obito gave the boy a look before Liz spoke up from his side.

"You also look like your about to shit the bed, you got car sickness?" she gave him a curious look, to which he frowned.

'Maybe I should stay away from those thoughts and save them for later.' He thought before shaking his head.

"It's fine, I'm simply lost in thought," she locked eyes with him and her gaze softened.

"Yeah, I get thoughts like that too," he raised an eyebrow before they shot up in realization.

' _Oh_ ,' he got the gist of what she meant.

He wasn't sure what he could respond with when she brought that up and simply nodded his affirmation.

She responded in kind before sitting back in her seat and took out a pair of headphones.

She was in her own world barely a minute later and Obito turned his focus on Inosuke. The mask-wearing teen simply stared at him for a minute or two.

"You better?" Obito looked surprised as Inosuke nodded. "Gonpachirou gets like that too sometimes."

Obito could understand Inosuke a little better now. "Thank you Inosuke, you as well Liz."

Obito expected no response from the girl but found his brow rising when she flicked her eyes in his direction before pressing a button on her mp3 and turning her head to the window.

With everything she'd put him through these past couple of days, he was content with the effects of his talk with her. While a little more drastic of a story, he realized that he may have been the only person to actually fully centralize her problems and not box them in a way that was insulting.

At least, a human who could. He could only imagine the amount of Faunus who'd gone through some horrifying things but he'd assume Liz wouldn't have given those Faunus the time of day, so it had to be a human.

That thought had, there was one thing he had on his mind at that moment.

"His name is TAN-JI-ROU, Inosuke."

"Whatever you say, Doginbo."

This boy had problems.

 _ **~NRK~**_

They exited the car and stood in front of Vale's First Kingdom Vault, a bank that had its roots in the era of the creation of the Kingdoms. A rather blocky building that was of greyish blue hues with Gargoyle Grimm on the tips of the building's rooftop and the brickwork in the form of a small castle.

Obito had an account here, mostly on his adopted father's part, that had been created a year after his adoption into the Midoriya family.

Marrone looked at the bank with a curious look as Liza stretched upon exiting the car. A satisfying crack of the spine later, and the young adult female Faunus sighed in relief.

"I miss our old car," she said as she walked up to her fellow officers.

"Yeah, but it's probably only because there were so many people in there," Marrone grinned. "Can you imagine having that all to ourselves? That'd be the comfiest ride I'd have ever ridden."

"That said," Obito piped in. "We won't be riding this car for a while, maybe not ever if the peace holds." He said, getting nods from both his squad-mates.

"Alright!" Inosuke posed on top of their vehicle in a brown fur vest and black pants with a furred waist while wielding a pair of serrated swords at his back covered by tape bindings. "It's time to show my m-ugh!" he stumbled before tripping off the side of the cop car, an annoyed Ochre moved from around the front of the car.

"Keep. Your feet. OFF THE VEHICLE," she reprimanded him, somehow shouting while not shouting all at the same time. Coco exited from the passenger's seat with a cock of the hip and a tip of her sunglasses as she watched Inosuke argue with her sister.

She shook her head and walked on over to the trio of junior officers.

"While sis is dealing with Boar Lord, mind telling me what our mission is?" She asked as she watched become more irate. Elizabeth rounded the backside of the vehicle, a pistol on her left hip with a knife on the opposite that was in a brown holster with small colored blocks on the outer layer.

She walked some ways away from the group and looked to all the world like she hadn't come with them at all.

'Baby steps, I'd assume," Obito thought before answering Coco's question. "We're working security detail here with a couple of extra Huntsmen. From the briefing we've received, we'll be helping make sure an armored van can release their containment and leave with no issues." Coco nodded along with his every word. "The Huntsmen we're working with are currently escorting the car and will be helping strengthen our detail."

"Huh, my first gig is money guard duty… sick!" Coco grinned as she pat her bag. "We've got all the firepower we need then."

Obito raised a brow before noticing a frowning Ochre walking up with a slumping Inosuke.

"All right, huddle up," she caught gaze with Liz who rolled her eyes and strolled up behind and then between Obito and Coco.

Coco's eyes twitched.

Ochre gave them a rundown on what they'd be doing, retreading what Obito had told Coco before having the group walk into the bank itself.

Ochre's younger group looked around, the Huntress/Huntsman-in-training were looking around with wonder and excitement.

Obito looked around and marked all the cameras, the vault security guards, the Tellers, and the civilians doing their business.

Their group garnered a good amount of attention from the people in the room. Children pointed at Inosuke's mask in wonder as the more in-the-know were looking at them in wonder for what they were.

Huntsmen were, by all means, celebrities. Not too surprising, what with them being the few bastions in between humanity and death.

* * *

 _"There's literally no reason for Huntsmen to have so little power when the entirety of the world is at stake."_

* * *

He sighed at the memory. Yes, true, were Huntsmen more powerful and, by extension, those who inhabited Remnant, things could change.

That said, what would happen were the people in control of these new powers didn't just decide that the stalemate was what they wanted?

He'd thought that whole meeting over plenty of times. Yes, in the grand scheme of things, he'd prefer a world where he didn't need to actually _fight for survival_ in the most literal sense but he wasn't sure if what came after their 'Magic Revolution' would leave the world in a better state.

He really did need to learn more about what magic could do. Learning its limits and true power could be what pushed his one advantage over his biological father to many. Within reason, considering he wasn't sure if his father had any mastery over his own abilities.

…What a surreptitiously stupid thing think. The very idea that _that man_ had no control of his latent abilities was ridiculous. He would know afterall.

Just how far above huntsmen the man known as Kojiro Brawnwen was.

* * *

" _Hm," he sent his sole son a serene smile. "I'd just about given up hope, what with your fellow siblings proving to be so disappointing. Hah, and Raven was so promising. Until she went to that blasted Huntsmen Academy." He shook his head with a frown._

" _I swore I raised her better than that."_

 _Obito lay beaten on the floor, face stuck into the earth as his bruised body struggled in anguish under the man's foot._

 _Kojiro smiled once more and release his hold on his son, watching as that formerly still but twitching body sprung to life and retreated several meters in one leap._

" _Simply amazing," the ponytailed man kept talking, waving his odachi to the side in a motion that seemed to slice through the air itself. "I'll never meet another such as you. Nay, probably no one in this world will ever reach your eventual plateau."_

" _And I'll push you to the impossible, break your body and rebuild it into the unstoppable." His sword came upward in a diagonal slash._

 _Obito was already removed from his former position, the trees behind him splitting in half from the waist down._

" _Grow strong my son, I've laid out so many obstacles for you," a gleam reached the Branwen tribe leader's eye. "I've done my best to lay the path for you forward. So many aimless individuals that will build you into the monster you've to become."_

" _Now," he held his sword to the side, body angled forward into a charging stance. "_ Dodge _."_

 _The world screamed at him and he brought his own weapon forward into that familiar stance._

 _Kojiro smiled._

" _I've trained you well."_

* * *

There'd been no Aura among those slashes of his.

That was pure _power_. Nothing but the strength in the man's arms had done things that only fully realized Huntsmen could. He could vouch for that.

He focused back in on the situation at hand, deciding to think on things later, and watched as Ochre shook hands with a man standing in front of the tellers. The others in a line behind her, with him at the end.

The man in question had a piece of blond hair at the front of his head, a tuff of hair upfront that came down his forehead like a large lightning bolt and black shaved hair around the rest of his head.

His face was angular, with a narrow and pronounce nose that supported a monocle leading up to his left eye, his eyes being black in color. He wore a black two-piece suit with a white dress shirt, a dark maroon bow and a pair of brown shoes.

"Ah, I welcome your powerful posse of proven people into my peaceful place of popular placement!" he threw his arms out to gesture to the room at large.

Obito raised a brow as the man moved down the line and shook hands with each of the combat school students and his squad-mates before reaching him.

"And welcome to you, helpful officer. Luke Atme, at your service," the bank's owner said with an outstretched hand and a confident smile.

Obito reached out and grasped his hand and kept his face impassive as a feeling rushed over his hand.

'What's that?' he shook hands with the bank owner and watched him leave to talk with Ochre and made his hands twitch.

His eyes flickered to the appendage and he clenched it into a fist before sneaking a look at Luke. His eyes flickered red before returning to their normal black color.

The man had Aura, with a large concentration being focused near his hand. He could see small blue shapes along the tips of his fingers. He regretted not paying attention before.

"Ms. Adel you've truly brought forward a gang of grade A groupies with you." the long-nosed man took off and cleaned his monocle. "That said, we should bring this meeting to a more private place." He brought the group of eight behind the line of Tellers to a door and led them through it.

They walked down a hallway of doors and went to the one at the very end as they walked down the navy blue carpet. The door led to a moderately large room, from the door straight ahead was a desk and chair flanked by bookcases on both sides and a window directly behind the chair that was a meter tall and wide. I

There was dark red carpeting with wooden furniture in front of the desk, two three-seater couches around perpendicular to the door they came in, with two simple chairs directly in front of the desk.

They found themselves in the presence of another person, a person that caused Obito to groan.

'Of course it's—'

"Mr. Qrow?" Liza spoke from his right, Marrone looking surprised beside her. "You're here?"

Qrow looked up from his seat on the corner of one of the couches and blinked before looking at Obito and then at his flask held gingerly in his hand.

"Huh?" Qrow blinked before chuckling and getting up. "Didn't expect to see your kiddos here."

"Likewise," Marrone blinked. "Small world." Those not at the academy the past half a year looked confused.

"Oi! Boruto—!"

"Obito."

"Who's this guy?!" Inosuke pointed at Qrow with a yell causing Obito to sigh.

"This man is Qrow Branwen, a Huntsman who taught at the academy we enrolled in earlier this year," Obito stated with a robotic tone and impassive eyes, leaving Qrow to grunt.

"Geez, you're as pleasant as a bush fulla Creepers," Obito gave him another flat look.

"Good."

"Well, well, well," Luke interrupted with a clap of his hands. "I wasn't expecting you to be acquainted, Mr. Branwen." Luke looked at Qrow with a curious eye.

The Huntsmen in question shrugged. "We go back a bit. More like a bunch of waiting brains to be filled with gunk from an old man."

Luke hummed before speaking. "Well, I hope this ponderous predicament poses puny problems in progress, hmm?"

"Yeah. It's good. No one here has a bone to pick with me," he shot a look at Obito who rolled his eyes. "We're good. So this is the group of kids I'm gonna be babysittin'?"

Coco raised an eyebrow. "We're getting stuck with this old guy?" She grinned when Qrow nearly choked, he literally called himself old just a second ago. "Alright, time for the _elderly_ to pass some wisdom down, right old man?"

'Cheeky little brat,' Qrow thought before returning her grin.

"Yes," Luke now sat at his desk. "Now please, have a seat. We'll be having a brisk briefing before the hauling Huntsman and Huntress show up."

Taking seats, Obito was left standing behind Velvet, Coco, and Liz in that order, in a couch with Inosuke, Marrone, and Liza, sitting opposite to the trio of Huntresses-in-training. Ochre and Qrow sat in front of the desk in the two single chairs, the Huntsman tipping his chair over with half-lidded eyes. Ochre sat up straight, knees together, hands clasped together in her lap and a glare at Qrow all the way throughout this meeting.

Luke Atme smiled at them all and pulled out a folder, thumbing through its contents before speaking.

"The current job for you all will two days, today and tomorrow, with each of you either patrolling the perimeter of the bank, traveling with a Huntsman at all times." He plucked a file out of his folder and placed it in front of the two other adults in the room.

Ochre leaned forward and scanned all details on the paper before frowning.

"If I may, Mr. Atme," She spoke up, receiving a wave of the hand from the bank owner. "Isn't the detail for a simple transport like this, _too_ much?" she raised her gaze and locked onto Luke's own.

The man sighed before thumbing through the folder once more and pulling out another pair of files before placing it done in front of Ochre. One was a file with the owner's description on it and the other was a picture of a ceramic looking disc. It had several blue concentric circles that contrasted its tan base color. It sported several cracks, likely from age, and had for all purposed looked like an old relic.

It alarmed Obito to find that some familiar writings were on the disc.

"I'm glad to see you're so astute Ms. Adel, hah," Luke sighed. "You see, what's coming here is something that's been a target for quite a while now."

The group as a whole leaned forward in attention, eyes wide, with the combat school students, sans Coco, doing their best to contain their jitters.

"Whatcha on about?" Qrow's gravelly tone entered the conversation. "What's up with this thing?"

Luke Atme looked at a lost. "That's just the thing, we don't know. This item is an antique, from what I know. The owner is a man named Henry Waters-Brown, a philanthropist/archeologist, who recently left his acquired home here in Vale. He wanted to take these with him but decided to leave this in his personal safe box here at First Kingdom Vault."

Ochre digested this information as Qrow narrowed his eyes at the picture. Obito glared off to the side.

Liza peeked at him from the corner of his eye.

"Alright, how long till that stuff gets here?" Qrow asked with a grunt.

"Half an hour more, just enough time to give you all your assignments."

As Luke explained each of their stations, Ochre focused on the picture and frowned before turning to her junior officers.

She saw the group watching them and noted Obito as the one left standing a little bit away from the couches. He stood straight, face impassive, and zeroed in on the photo on the desk.

'What are you thinking?'

* * *

He stood next to the back entrance, to its right, Qrow to its left, with either their bad luck or maybe Qrow's Semblance compounding his own, stood with him. Velvet stood behind the two human males, shakily tugging down her hat.

They were in a sort of loading dock/garage that had a large garage door that separated them from the outside world with a button near its side that would open it when the time came.

The location which was at the bank's backside, separated by enough stone and metal that made this location rather strange.

He remembered that the police were one to one per student with him and Qrow having a group of three, what with them having the most important part. Which Obito could only assume was because Ochre could seemingly keep a better eye on most of them.

'With how much this happens, I have to wonder what would have happened had I left the city after I graduated,' what a rather strange thought. Obito Uchiha didn't run from anything, even as a child though he was more cowardly back then in spite of his reckless bravery.

'I'm kind of sick and tired of having this same song and dance with Qrow,' he realized that maybe he wasn't as recovered from the class debacle from yesterday. He was still calm but not as much as he needed to be.

'Goddamn teenagers.'

Qrow took another long swig of his flask. "So, here we are again, huh?" Qrow opened up with.

"Perhaps it's your Bad Luck." Qrow snorted at this.

"I don't know, I don't see it that way."

"Great."

Velvet trembled as she lifted her beret a bit and watched the byplay of the two humans.

'Why couldn't have been with _anyone_ else?' she mentally whined as she curled in on herself.

"Hey girlie," she heard and shot up with a shaky hop and stiff salute.

"Y-y-yes s-sir?!" she shrieked and winced as both Qrow and Obito winced. Just swallow her already Remnant! She couldn't handle this!

Qrow slapped his ear a bit and shot her a raised brow. "Listen, girlie—"

"Her name's Velvet Scarlatina," Obito piped in from his side of the back entrance causing Velvet to jump.

"I c-can… introduce mys-self," she said before tapering off near the end into a hushed volume.

"Apologies." She looked up at Obito and looked away from his intense gaze.

"Look at you, already calming down women, who knew you'd come so far." Qrow mocking said from his side causing Obito's eye to twitch.

"Qrow…"

"Hmm?" He hid his smirk behind his flask as he took another swig. "Somethin' tha' matter, ?"

"U-Um?" both heads snapped in her direction and she jumped before dragging her beret down.

"I'm sorry!"

Both Branwen raised a brow before the sound of an engine sounded behind the garage entrance.

"T-That," Velvet, hat still held down with one hand, raised the other to point at the arrival of their presumed shipment.

Qrow gave her one more look before snorting. "Alright Mr. Midoriya, please open the door."

Obito let out an irritated sigh before turning to the button behind him. He moved to press it and froze completely.

'No! They're here as well!' he turned back to Qrow, his shocked expression all the Huntsmen needed to see as he ready himself.

"We need to move!" Obito got out before a rather loud sizzling sound echoed throughout the room.

"ART!" Obito heard the voice and dashed toward Qrow, catching the man off guard.

"IS!" He dragged the man, easily lifting him off his feet, over to Velvet who sat frozen like a deer in headlights.

"AN EXPLOSION!"

Light, sound, and heat, filled the room.

* * *

Marrone looked at Inosuke with a raised brow as the teen bent over backward and pulled his upper half beneath his legs.

"HAHAHhahahaa!" he laugh manically.

"Yay! Yay!" the little girl in front of him looked on with stars in her eyes.

"Oh, so he _can_ be helpful beyond his reassuring attitude," Marrone stared before grinning.

Sure, Inosuke was a big hothead, arrogant to fault, and easily startled with supposed 'new' technology, but he was far from without his good points.

He was brave, reassuring in that overwhelming confidence of his which could be easily manipulated into doing more than enough good, and he was excitable. He was fun to watch the reactions of.

Marrone chuckled before he and Inosuke stiffened.

'What the—' was all he could think before the entire bank shook.

"…EXPLOSION!"

* * *

Liza stood guard up front, Liz at her side, nervous to all hell.

'How'd I get stuck with _her_?' she did her best to keep her poker-face and whine internally. She snuck a look to her side and watched Elizabeth lean on the front of the bank with her ear pods in.

She looked down in thought, the world nary a buzz to the young huntress, Liza supposed.

Liza let out another sigh before looking up and sniffing.

Yeah, sure, she kind of was perpetuating the stereotype but Liza Carmel got over that when her enhanced sense of smell had saved her bacon more than enough times for her to have it as her trusty best friend.

A couple of sniffs and she froze.

'Gunpowder?' she looked to Thompson and felt the smell both strengthen and lead off into and around the building.

Her eyes went wide and she grabbed Liz's shoulder, shocking the girl and making her look at Liza.

"W-wha—!"

"No time! We have to move!" Liz stood for a few moments as Liza rounded the corner of the bank.

"What?!" she got out before she tried to follow the officer.

Keyword being: Tried.

"..PLOSION!"

* * *

The world was black and hazy for Coco as she coughed from her position on the floor. Ochre hovered over her sister with a snarl on her lips and eyes moving to the back of the bank.

Where Obito was.

"S-Sis, w-what?" Coco looked up and rubbed her eyes as Ochre pulled her to her feet by the shoulder.

"Come on," Ochre's hold on Coco's shoulder stayed strong. "We'll move the people out of here with Celeste and your classmate!" she pushed Coco opposite of the source of the explosion and toward the crowds of distressed civilians.

Coco finally retained her composure. "Hold up, hold up! What about Obito and Velvet?! We're not about to leave them back there, are we?" Coco responded as she left her sister's grip.

"Qrow will look after them! We have to get these people out of here! Celeste!" Ochre frowned as she explained this and turned to see Marrone getting up from the floor with Inosuke looking around furiously, a little girl and woman covered by the half-naked teen.

"Crowd Control and redirection!" Marrone nodded and explained to Inosuke. The two quickly moving to different people and moving them.

Coco stared before being pushed again by Ochre.

"No time for staring! Let's go!"

* * *

Velvet looked up in shock at the human cop as he covered her, four-legged on the floor hovering over her and looking at the back entrance with a worried frown.

She could barely form a sentence and, instead, turned to the only thing in the room to NOT give her a blast of social anxiety.

Unfortunately, she might have preferred the social anxiety.

"Nyahaha!" a blond-haired man? Velvet wasn't sure, what with his long, smooth looking, pale blond hair that gave him a comb-over. It trailed down his back even, going past his tan cloak, which was littered with weird-looking writing on it, which ended right by his sandal-covered feet.

His grey eyes looked around excitedly before landing on her and the cop. His expression turned sour.

"What?! Are you serious?! Not a _single one_ was turned into art?!" he growled before grinning.

"You know what? This is fine," his grinning face sent chills down her spine as he laughed up a storm. "This can be my first _public_ art creation!" he stuck out his tongue and crossed out his arms, palms facing her.

A cold pit fell down into the pit of her stomach as moving mouths grinned at her. She looked at them in horror as Obito finally got off her and pulled her to her stiffly placed feet.

Deidara blinked as few times as he looked at Obito and the young man in question grimaced at any possible implication that could come out of Deidara's mouth.

"Hey, kid, you an Uchiha?" Deidara finally asked after much deliberation. "You look an awful lot like a couple of bastards I know." His expression changed from curiosity to annoyed curiosity.

"Does the word Elemental Nations mean anythin' to ya?" Obito's expression didn't change so Deidara shrugged.

"Oh well, wouldn't be the first seemingly familiar face I've run into today." Obito had to fight his expression changing.

Obito had had his hypothesis but now it was all but proven true.

He wasn't sure whether he should be proud of that fact or not.

"Tsk! whatever," his grin returned with a manic edge to it. "I guess I can take it out on you! Sorry for your shit luck kid!"

Deidara's hands blurred as they moved behind his back before they came back around with small white objects in them.

"Good luck in your next life! It did wonders for me!" He threw them at the two teens, Obito's eyes going wide as he pulled Velvet out of the way.

The explosion rocked the bank once more, flashing hot winds and light before petering out barely a moment later. The result was an explosion that made it through three meters worth of stone to reach the front of the bank.

The view of destruction and mayhem stopped for a moment, the eyes of both the cops and the huntsmen trainees just stared at Velvet and Obito through the hole itself.

"Shit," Marrone summed up everyone's feelings succinctly.

"Fufuffu, more pieces of art to be made," Deidara chuckled to himself before retrieving more white material from his back.

Obito frowned before turning to Velvet. The girl still looked to be in shock and growled before shaking her.

She jumped but he kept her stable and looked him in the eyes.

He glared back. "Now is not the time." He whispered this harshly before letting her go.

She stayed on her feet before beginning to shake yet she nodded.

Alright, she might be of _some_ use. Now, all there was left was—

"Haha wha-?!" Deidara jumped and landed on the ceiling, watching the scythe held by Qrow before looking at the Huntsmen's grinning visage.

"Now, now," the Branwen shook his finger. "We should let the kids be, this is between us."

Deidara observed him from his place on the ceiling before smirking.

"I think you should focus more on my art." Qrow blinked at that.

"Qrow _move!_ " the Huntsmen didn't second guess Obito's shout and leaped back.

Away from an explosion that left a crater where he'd once stood.

Steadying his footing, Qrow stared at the rather large dent in the floor.

"Geez, what's this guy on?" He frowned and looked around. His eyes went wide as he saw white everywhere. Small white things riddled the entire back portion of the docking deck and crept its way to them.

Four gunshots rang out and Qrow saw the blond man land near the busted garage door. Obito watched Velvet take her shots and wasn't surprised Deidara got out the way.

'This girl!' he was annoyed. What was she doing here if she was just going to shake all the time?!

There blondie sat on top of an armored van, probably the one they were waiting for, and grinned.

In the driver's seat, Qrow could see a white construct of some sort, its hands on the wheel but it lay motionless.

"My audience has widened!" Obito watched Deidara slam his hand through the armored van's window and suck the man-shaped clay into the mouth of his hands.

"I've always wanted to fight a Huntsmen here, hahaha! Let's see how you differ from Mistral!" Deidara lunged at Qrow but jumped back from a gunshot by the van itself.

Elizabeth held her gun out in one hand and her dagger in another. "Who the fuck is this guy?" She looked to Obito with a raised brow.

"Don't take your eyes off him," he shouted back, causing her to snap her head in Deidara's previous position.

The man cackled as he landed in front of her before slamming a hand into Liz's stomach and pulling away in the same breath, dodging Qrow's downward slash.

He landed on top of the armored van with a grin on his face. His sleeves bubbled and rippled before white creatures rushed out at the group.

Obito grimaced as he came to a decision.

Tell them exactly how to deal with Deidara's clay bombs or let things play out, possibly running the risk that somebody was going to get hurt beyond measure.

He watched as Qrow lifted up Liza and both he and Liz jumped away from the explosive clay animals. Speaking of, they should also probably relocate before things got too enclosed.

He looked to Velvet, who was shaking less than before but was looking lost.

"Velvet!" he kept his eyes on Deidara, the man watching the Huntsmen moving about with glee, as he whispered harshly to the rabbit Faunus. "We need to get out of here, let's take the hole behind us and leave."

She nodded rapidly and the two slowly moved towards the exit and actually made it to the hole.

"Aaaarrrrggghhhhhhah!" Inosuke came flying through their exit with a battle cry, shocking Velvet stiff and causing Obito more headaches than he was willing to deal with today.

He snapped the back of Inosuke's vest a pulled both him and Velvet into the hole, tossing both through before he followed after.

"Oi!" Inosuke righted himself with a roll and stomped over to Obito, a vein popped on his head.

Obito didn't even entertain the boy as he glared at him. Inosuke froze mid-step as a cold feeling shot up his body from his toes to his forehead. It stilled the blood in his veins with how cold it was and left him feeling vulnerable beyond compare.

And the next moment, it was gone, leaving him to take a step back.

'O-oi,' Inosuke didn't give it a second thought.

Kabedon was _dangerous_.

Velvet looked on with a stiff neck and shame filling her entire being. She pushed out a trembling hand and pushed Inosuke's swords back down.

The teen looked at his weapons, then at Velvet, then at his weapons again.

'When did I—'

"Midoriya!" Obito looked to see Ochre and Coco shouting outside the entrance of the bank. "Get out of there!" An explosion accentuated this command, rocking the building again.

"Come on," Obito ordered the two and began running out the bank. Inosuke snorted before following, Velvet staggering a step behind.

They'd made it halfway to the exit before a burst of heat and light hit their backs. The wind staggered the tree teens and, despite his better judgment, Obito turned his head to see Deidara standing there, looking at them with an indecisive expression.

"Hmph!" He scoffed at them before running in the other direction, towards a familiar door that led to Luke Atme's office.

Obito's eyes narrowed. 'So they're the thieves.' He thought with one last look before pushing the two students forward.

The trio exited the building and moved toward the crowd of people, everyone who'd they'd come with included.

Qrow looked at Obito with a furrowed stare which the younger Branwen returned.

"I believe that is one of the people who've been trying to steal the item," Obito said with a frown. "He had the chance to attack us in there but chose to go to Mr. Atme's office."

The two turned to Luke, who was in the middle of consoling a few of the wayward citizens, tellers, and his other employees.

Their glares caught his attention and he walked over with a tug at his collar.

"Can I help you my glaring gentlemen?" Luke asked with a nervous smile.

"Yeah, I gotta question," Qrow started. "I thought we were dealing with normal riff-raff here. Just some thieves, maybe Torchwick but I'd believe you'd tell us if it were him." Red eyes narrowed in on Luke.

"Somethin' smells off here."

"That's not the only thing," Obito continued. "I thought you said that the item was in the armored van." Luke nodded furiously. "So why is it that that man still came _here_?" Obito emphasized with a wave at the crumbling bank.

"Mr. Atme is there something you aren't telling us?" as Obito finished his question, Ochre stomped over with rage in her eyes. She got up close with Atme, the man sweating worse than before she grabbed him by the collar with a snarl.

" _Start TALKING._ " Luke was dropped upon his rapid nodding.

Straightening himself, he opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off.

A large explosion sent all available personnel off their feet and all the civilians scrambling with shouts of 'Terrorists' and 'White Fang'.

They'd be right on the ball with terrorists though, Deidara was many things but that title stuck out most.

Police, huntsmen, and bank owner looked at the flaming building with dropped mouths as out came Deidara with nary a scratch on him and a smile on his face. In his hands was a bag.

Qrow was on his feet but was halted at the sound of Deidara's cackling.

"Hmhmhm! You guys don't know what you're stepping into," the blond terrorist cracked a smirk. "This whole place is in for a surprise once I'm done with it."

"G'night everybody! Remember!" his body glowed and all within the vicinity scrambled to their feet and began to run.

"ART!" The cops, huntsmen, and Luke rammed into the police van cruiser.

"IS!" They packed themselves like sardines and the tires screeched against gravel before it took off at 80 mph.

"AN EXPLOSION!" the light grew in intensity and just as it reached its peak it ended.

"FufuHAHAHAHAHA! YOU BUNCH OF DUMBASSES!" Deidara laughed his head off before he ran back into the wreckage of FKV.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"So… It's pretty obvious we've all be had," Marrone supplied as Liza sat leaning against him with dizzy eyes. He sat near the window, more like squished if anything, as they tried to fit in the extra two bodies.

"Clearly," Obito sighed as he sat at the other end with Coco in his lap, the girl actually frowning as she did so.

"Ditto," Qrow sat in the middle, Velvet in his arms. The girl in question looked like she'd stopped breathing altogether.

Obito wouldn't have mourned the loss either way.

"Tsk!" Inosuke had somehow slipped into the backseats with Elizabeth splayed across his lap. The boar mask wearer crossed his arms in anger.

"Ugh," Liz groaned, face green. "T-too fast."

Ochre felt a vein pop on her forehead and Luke decided to be more forthcoming with information for fear of his life.

"That man you saw has been one of the offenders of theft when it comes to Waters-Brown's worn artifact. He's not the only one though, there have been a few rather…" Luke actually looked nervous. " _Strange_ individuals attempting to tediously theft this tentative item."

"Strange how?" Qrow asked as Velvet began hyperventilating, now fully aware of where she was.

"While we are aware of Faunus with tails, one of the intruders had a large white tail as he was tall and he was a rather large himself but he left no traces. No footprints, hair, and/or DNA in the slightest. One time it was a trio, a man, a woman, and some small thing." He saw their looks and shook his head in the negative. "It wasn't something we could identify. It was too small to be an adult or teen and its movements were simply to smooth to be a child. I'm pretty sure Henry said it _floated_."

"I believe that man from before is a newer addition though," Luke tapped his chin. "I'd heard nothing about explosions on the manor in question by the owner, so this blonde man must be a recent addition."

Ochre's expression went from angry to annoyed as she brought the cruiser back to the burned down bank, the fire department had been called already and had doused flames as they arrived.

"How often do they attack?" Luke hummed.

"Typically, once a week, and as far as patterns go, they've gotten better avoiding our technology."

Obito blinked as the man said 'our' and paid more attention to the conversation.

"Well, it sounds like we got a regular set of Aura-fueled thieves," Qrow added before he tried to reach for his flask and found his hands in no position to do so. "Is there anything else that needs to be said?"

"No sir! None beyond what I've told you-"

"CUT THE SHIT!" Inosuke exclaimed from the back of the vehicle causing Velvet to jump and shriek. "That's a lie! Why you lyin'?!" Luke was pale as a sheet.

He did his best to look away from all available cruiser occupants but felt an iron grip on his shoulder and began to sweat.

Qrow's eyes glowed as he squeezed further, getting a whimper out the man. " _Now,_ you're gonna tell us all a _nice_ little story about what the fuck is going on."

"It don't matter if he doesn't talk," Liz spoke up from the back. "My Semblance can get him to do all the talking we need. Sure, he might get some brain damage but for what he's put us through, I'd say that's a fair trade."

Liz's eyes began to glow and Luke froze at the light in her eyes.

"OKAY! OKAY! I'M SORRY! I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!" Luke squealed like a pig on fire and slumped as Liz's eyes dimmed.

"Start talking!" she hissed.

Luke was silent, trembling, as he stared out the window of the cruiser at his burning bank. "… T-There was one more item that I hold onto that might be of interest to all participating parties."

Luke sighed before he reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a skeleton key. Ochre glanced at it, crossing her arms as she waited for an explanation.

"Vale's First Kingdom Vault is not just a particularly potent name for a bank. It also has access to the first-ever vault that had been built in Vale." All eyes were on the key. "It's a rather old safety net for items beyond normal security. More fit for items that higher powers want to be kept safe."

And hidden, rang through Obito, Ochre, and Qrow's, minds as Luke tucked it away once more.

"This key opens a rather well-hidden elevator in my office that leads to the vault, the 'first vault' ever built in Vale." Luke tucked it away. "I know this might seem rather, _strange_ , for a random bank to hold such a thing, yes?"

Most of the group nodded, Inosuke staring at the key in wild fascination as he squeezed himself over the portion between the back and middle seats.

"Inosuke, I swear to the gods!" Marrone felt his forehead hit the window as the young teen pushed him over.

"I've seen this thing before!" the boy shouted as he swiped the key from Luke's hands. The man stared at him with a look of shock.

"You've WHAT?!" Luke was as pale as a ghost as he shouted. ""

"That said, this information is not something someone could just find out. This shouldn't even something any lower level politician should know." Luke tented his hands in front of his mouth. "I don't know who these people are but they have means to find out about this key."

Marrone frowned before he and Liza stared at one another.

"Okay… this is kind of big."

"Yeah and…" Liza grimaced. "What are we even supposed to do about this?"

The question hung among the group, Luke included.

"Don't ya have some sort of contingency for this?"Qrow asked. "Surely somethin' like this has got sum sorta safety on it."

"Sadly no," Luke shook his head. "I've been told that to even suggest it meant ownership over the vault would be passed on. All I've been told is that it's impossible for it to be found."

That got some raised brows.

"This whole thing gets weirder and weirder," Coco added as she pushed up her mini sunglasses. Obito shot her a flat look as she tried to make herself comfortable.

"Can we get out, please?"

They all shuffled out of the car, Luke walking towards his bank with a glum look on his face.

Watching the fire, Obito made sure to be a little distance away from the others and turned his Sharingan.

The whole building was alight with magical energy, enough so that he couldn't look at it too closely. Turning his eyes skyward, he frowned as he didn't see anything.

'Deidara might have gone underground,' he thought and wonder is the man had found the vault or not. Perhaps he did and couldn't open it, so he left. Deidara had a good hold over earth chakra, there was no evidence he didn't have some form of earth manipulation here.

Turning his doujutsu off, he looked at the group and saw Ochre and Qrow speaking with Luke in hushed tones before Qrow broke off and took a swig of his flask with a sour expression.

Catching Obito's gaze, he tilted his head off to the side of the group and Obito followed. Meeting up with Qrow, Obito crossed his arms with a narrow-eyed look.

"Hahh," Qrow let out a breath as he finished another sip of his alcohol. "I don't have to tell you this is a possible shit show, do I?"

"It's pretty obvious. Ideas?"

"That'd be nice to have," Qrow tightened the cap on his flask. "But nah, we're up the creek without a paddle. The biggest problem I have with this is including the kids." Obito's eyes went wide.

He'd forgotten about them, in a sense. He'd been treating this like a mission gone wrong, which it, was mind you, but not in that way.

This wasn't a ninja squad getting a surprise field mission rank change, this was Remnant, this was Vale with Huntsmen.

Huntsmen who probably kept the whole dark side of the lifestyle away from the common people…

… And students like Coco.

He didn't look at the students and glared straight forward.

"We send them back with high grades and deal with this ourselves."

"Ya see, that makes sense but," Qrow held out his hands. "I'm also worried about that crazy bastard going after one of the cops or students."

Obito shot him a look of genuine curiosity and Qrow chuckled.

"Please, if what happened back then is anything to go by, I bet you can handle yourself just fine, bro." Qrow said with a grin. Obito stared at him for a moment.

'That's a nice sentiment, I guess.' Obito thought but he also knew it wasn't really what was bothering him. Qrow had been completely genuine with his 'bro' finishing statement, which Obito was unsure of how to feel about.

There was affection there, its existence being more than Obito was expecting considering how little he and Qrow interacted, especially considering that Qrow had no idea of his existence until he'd been about 8.

… Thinking on this wasn't important, all he needed to know was that Qrow wasn't about to treat him like some helpless civilian.

That had been bothering him a lot this past week, regardless of whatever such thoughts were borne from ignorance of his biological peers.

He missed being an older adult but back to the matter at hand.

"So what you're saying is…?"

"Wwwwhhhhoooaa!" Inosuke exclaimed. "We get to do those sleepover things Kampachiro talked about when we were kids!"

Liz raised a brow at the boy. "You realize this _isn't_ a sleepover, right? Besides, I can't." Liz shook her head. "Why not just have one of you guys come over to my place and just go take the rest somewhere?" she asked with a raised brow.

Obito sighed at everyone's expectant look.

'Nothing new I guess.'

This would be getting in the way of his plans to meet Dalia though. Then again, who's to say she's not involved with this?

If there's a female suspect then that might mean Dalia's involved.

He decide what to do with her once they crossed that bridge.

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **With this, we go into the next arc. What I like to call, the Acquisition Arc. It'll make more sense in time.**_

 _ **Now before, probably around chapter 1 or 2, I made the claim that Obito's Cop Tenure Part 1, the overarching Arc of this part pre-timeskip, would last close to 13 or 14 chapters…**_

… _**I'm just gonna let things play out by this point, I really need to STOP making these assumptions about my writing.**_

 _ **That said, this chapter came out at around 8.7k+ words and it wasn't that hard to write. It's basically another set-up chapter with some exposition on the side.**_

 _ **And with that, I bid you adieu.**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	10. Vault

_**So, welcome to the new chapter but I'm not as enthusiastic about this one.**_

 _ **Now, mind you, I got through the first half pretty easily with a pep in my step, especially as we delve into the magic system via observation with Obito Uchiha. That said, my problem lies in the narrative.**_

 _ **I.E. I feel like I'm blue balling people here with no real action and more set up, minor as it is.**_

 _ **I feel this chapter will be informative and**_ **can** _ **be exciting but it'll depend on the person.**_

 _ **With all that said, on with the show.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Naruto, they belong to their respective owners, RoosterTeeth(Monty Oum) and Shonen Jump (Masashi Kishimoto)**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

Chapter 9: 'Vault'

Here he stood, outside some random teenage girl's house with a duffle bag full of his effects. A raggedly looking apartment building that he was sure wasn't up to code in one of the more risky sides of town.

Decked out in loose-fitting black pants, a similar colored top, and a pair of his preferred shinobi sandals, he looked like he fit in just fine with all the people here sans his cleaner attire and hygiene.

Add on a green vest, he could pass for a jonin back in Konoha… That was a depressing thought, moving on.

'Well, I figured as much, nothing too surprising,' Obito thought, thinking about his trip here.

It was by foot, obviously, he didn't see the need for a car when he could exercise his way to work and still get there on time.

He'd barely made it passed a broken down guard point before someone had tried to steal his wallet. Some green-haired teenager that Obito decided could get away with a bruised wrist and some icy hot pads.

After leaving her to her own designs he made it halfway to the apartment before someone tried to mug him. This time, he didn't leave the Faunus with a bruised wrist but still gave her an Icy Hot.

And just a block or so away from the apartment, he'd been the target of a potential kidnapping by some random gang. In that situation, he'd flashed a card he'd received from Junior and the to-be kidnappers ran like a pack of scared dogs.

Now, he was walking up the steps of Elizabeth's apartment and ignored the man sleeping on the stone railings before slamming his foot into his creeping hand. With a yelp, the guy shot to his feet and brought out a knife and found out what it felt like to have a broken knife stabbing and a forearm.

His screams of pain seemed to have caught someone's attention as the door to the apartment building opened and, lo and behold, it was Elizabeth Thompson herself. She looked around, down at the man clutching his broken arm, which had a knife through the hand, for dear life.

Liz blinked twice, dressed as she had when she went to school, before motioning for Obito to come on in, the young man following, leaving the man with his broken arm on the staircase.

Obito immediately scrunched up his nose as the smells hit him.

'Besides the racial tension, it's no wonder she didn't want Marrone, Liza, or any of the others here.' The place smelt older than dust itself, with a twinge of mold centered around the doorway. He could see stains on the walls, darkish brown in color, along with some insects crawling away from the door he'd come through.

This place was horrible and probably the only home Liz could afford if she even had to pay for this dump to begin with.

They went past an unmanned front desk to a set of stairs on its right.

"Be careful and try to take steps two down from me. This whole thing could break with our combined weight on a group of two."

Each step caused a worrying creak to come out of the wooden stairs, leaving him to wonder how this place had been when it had been new.

They'd been walking for maybe four flights of stairs before coming out on one. Obito sniffed and found the odor from down below far more scarce and thankfully bearable.

Liz walked forward, Obito following in step, and they moved all the way down to the last door in this hallway of maybe 20 rooms.

'This had to have been a rather lavish apartment back in its day. ' Obito thought as they came to a stop.

Liz didn't move but turned her head around, looking up and down the hallway before going into her pants, literally _inside_ her pants, to bring out a dark brown key.

She quickly undid her lock and ushered him in just as fast. Obito understood and rushed in, leaving Liz to quickly close and lock the door, though gently.

Obito looked at her with understanding before he blinked with a bemused gaze.

'This apartment is beyond clean,' he thought as he turned around and looked at the room. Dull pink walls greeted him and went around the apartment. From the small kitchen to the slightly larger living room. The door he'd entered was right in the middle of the divide of two portions of the apartment, a door was a little bit to his left near the kitchen in rough shape.

"Come on, we have running water but it's always cold, so…"

"It's fine," Obito said as he took off his shoes and walked onto the wooden paneled floor. "I typically save money by turning off the water heater at my apartment. It's nothing I'm unused to."

Obito walked into the living room and found that there was also a small TV, with static on the screen, on the floor. Opposite facing it was a recliner that had various strained patches on it and was bright yellow in color. Finally, there was a window next to recliner a meter or so away.

He set his duffle bag down by the television and looked at the rather spotless floor before looking up at Elizabeth. The girl was moving to the rough-looking door that had been in front of the entrance, went in and came out with a broom and dustpan.

"Do ya mind moving for a bit? I just gotta sweep up the place a bit," Obito nodded and Liz went to work.

He watched as she went around the living room and sweep every inch of it. He looked at the kitchen and saw an assortment of dishes in the sink.

Liz moved the recliner before hearing the sounds of rapid clicks and running water. She raised an eyebrow before turning to find Obito doing her dishes. She blinked once before her eyes shot wide.

"W-wait! Hold on! If you use up all the soa-!"

"It's fine," Obito washed off a hand and raised the soap bottle. She walked over and eyed the half-empty container of soap and blinked.

"Did you use any at all?" She shot a look at the suds in her sink and couldn't make heads or tails of it. Obito closed his eyes and thought it over before responding.

"Have you ever tried to use Aura on anything other than a weapon?" She looked at him like he was crazy. "Aura has a variety of effects that can affect things such as weapons and our bodies but," he allowed his Aura to flow over the soap container and Liz watched with unsure eyes as the liquid soap flashed black.

"With other items, we don't consider as part of ourselves, it takes some effort, it's quite interesting. Doing things like this requires a sort of self-hypnosis of the object you're trying to infuse Aura into. It can make food more palatable, wooden planks more durable if you grew the tree they came from, and so much more." He took out a ceramic bowl from the sink and filled it with water.

Elizabeth watched as he dropped a minuscule amount of soap in and circled it with his finger. Suds foamed out at a ridiculous degree and she just watched gobsmacked as it did.

"As ridiculous as it sounds, 'I am Thou, Thou are I' is the basics of it." He put the soap down and wiped his hands.

Liz watched as the ragged cloth she used to dry plates, the counter, the fridge, etc, dry Obito's hands so effortlessly. Two wipes and he was moving on to the dishes he'd washed and left in the sink.

Once he was done, he wrung the cloth dry. The fabric rag flashing black as dirt and moisture left in one burst. Unraveling it showed a clean and dry rag.

Obito noted she'd done nothing but look at it after he'd put it down for the past five minutes. She walked towards it and held it in her hands.

She stretched it gently and smelled it before her face took on a look of surprise.

She turned to him with an eager look in her eyes. Sauntering up to him before leaning on his shoulder with a sly smile.

"So, how much is 't to get you ta teach me all t'at?" she wiggled her eyebrows seductively at him.

He removed her from his person and shot her a flat look. "Nope, none of that. I didn't need it now or ever. I'll teach but don't try that again."

She looked surprised at being rebuffed. Normal guys took her offers with little more glee than could be seen on Obito's dead fish expression.

She flushed, looked away, and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Kak! Kagh! Liz! You're home-e?" came an echoing, coughing, voice from the door in the living room.

Elizabeth disappeared around the side of the TV, the bang of the door signifying where she'd gone.

"Hey," Obito heard as he moved to sweep the kitchen, tidying up the small amount of garbage, and noted the empty nutrition pill bottles by the sink.

He'd finished wiping the counter and the kitchen cleaning when Liz exited the room, carrying another girl in her arms.

This girl had the same eyes and pale blond colored haired as her sister except in a shorter cut with long bangs around her face. She was covered in a blanket, so he couldn't make out any distinguishing body shape but her face was pale and sweating.

Liz placed the sick looking girl in the sole piece of furniture in the living room, the yellow recliner, and tidied the faded blue blanket around the mystery girl.

This was probably her sister and it seemed the younger girl was sick. Was this prevalent or was this recent?

"I'll nab ya some orange juice, alright?" Liz asked but didn't wait before rushing to small mini-fridge on the right side of the sink.

Obito turned on the sink water, cupped one hand under running water before turning the faucet off. With his Aura, he molded it into an orb and ran both his hands through it with a drop of soap.

He wiped his hands dry before performing his technique from earlier, leaving both his hands and the cloth dry.

He turned from the sink and watched as the girl emerged further from the blanket and he saw a slightly skinny girl of questionable bodily maturity in a faded brown, long-sleeve shirt.

Walking in her direction, the girl finally noticed him and stared at him with wide eyes. She stared before grimacing.

"Sis!" Liz jumped at the shout looking at Patty's watering eyes and gave Obito a long stare. Her eyes shot wide and her cheeks reddened.

"Wait!" She waved her hands in front of her. "This isn't what you think! Some stuff went down on this assignment I'm on and this guy to accompany me home."

Her sister's tears lessened a bit, the younger blond wiping away what remained. She shot Obito a watery-eyed look and Obito raised a brow in response.

She kept his gaze and Obito blinked once before giving back twice the amount of intensity. The youngest of the group tried to maintain eye contact but turned away with a pout.

Liz sighed in relief before her sister spoke.

"What did my sister do to you?"

"PATTY!" The girl, now named Patty, winced and looked to the window.

Liz stared at her for a bit before slumping and turning to the junior cop.

"I'm sorry," Liz scratched her head. "I forgot to warn ya, my bad."

"It's fine. This is temporary anyway," this caught Patty's attention.

" _What's_ temporary?" she asked with narrow eyes.

"U-Um, ya see… this guy is gonna be chilling with us for a couple of days or so…"

Patty stared at her for what felt like hours before shrugging.

"Alright," Patty said, causing Liz to sigh in relief. "As long as it's not for 'favors' I'm fine with it. That said," she turned on Obito with a rather impressive glare.

"I'm watching you… ggguuuyyy?" her threat trailed off and she looked embarrassed.

"… Obito." Obito offered, watching as she smacked her lips while staring at him.

"…OnlyToes." He looked down at sandals.

Really?

* * *

Obito sat by the window, his knees pulled up and resting his arms on them. He closed his eyes and focused inward. He let his Sharingan turn on and off behind his eyelids and kept following after the flickers of Aura, or was it magic, going to his eyeballs.

He frowned as he followed the flow and found it circulating around his body but coming back to his… nowhere. That wasn't unusual to him. He'd done this more than once before all this magic business came into the picture.

He thought about chakra, physical and spiritual energies mixing together to create that one energy.

Speaking metaphorically, Aura was basically fashioned spiritual energy. Keyword being, 'fashioned'. i.e. if Dalia's to be believed then that meant magic, or control over this portion of magic made into a spell, should have components to figure out.

He focused on his Aura and imagined Yin-Yang Release. If the Jutsu: Creation of all Things was to be believed to have made the foundation for jutsu than it had all the basic parts.

He'd _had_ Yin-Yang Release, he should be able to feel all the individual parts, right? Madara had specifically taught him techniques in its use when it came to the Rinnegan especially.

It had been with such a thought process he began to meditate but he was coming up short. With Aura, he was trying to find the barest hints of tampering. Aura was a Spell, so with that logic, it had to have magic.

Several more minutes of trying and he gave up. This was probably something he'd need to discuss with Dalia, once this whole situation was done with.

He opened his eyes and sighed before getting up to move to the kitchen. Liz was leaning on the armrest of the recliner as she and Patty watched TV. Eyeing the Uchiha who'd walked up to her, she raised a brow.

"If it's any consolation, I'll cook for us, do you mind if I go into your fridge?" Obito asked, causing Elizabeth to blink.

"Oh, yeah, sure… wait, shit!" she cursed. "We don't have much going on in there to be honest."

Obito hummed before checking their fridge then the Thompson sisters' pantry and cabinet.

'There's not much here at all,' he thought as he looked at the large amounts of ramen in the pantry.

'Damn Naruto, must you chase me with your food?' he almost cracked a smile at the thought before he saw some pasta noodles on the fourth shelf. The rest were packed with either ramen or flour, smart choices for quick and cheap food.

'There was some cheese in the fridge and I think I saw some sort of grease.'

Patty watched and listened as the boy her sister brought home, not for that, began to move from her food closet, fridge, and dishwasher.

"Liz, what about the stove?" the older sister crossed her arms.

"There's should be enough fire Dust in there for another three days," looking over his shoulder, Obito nodded and turned the heat to the minimum level. There was a pot he found, surprisingly large but he could see all the dents inside and he could only assume this was bad for trying to cook anything in it.

He looked at it from all angles and narrowed his eyes as his Aura coated it, giving it a nice circular bottom of his black spiritual energy.

He filled it with water from the tap and set that on one of the two burners on the stove by the sink. He turned the fire on low and held onto the sides of the pot and increased the heat coming from the bottom of the medium cauldron. He emptied the pasta into the pot and let it boil as he went about setting up the sauce for their meal.

He grabbed a medium-size saucepan and put it on the dual-top stove before opening the bacon grease and taking out half of the gelatinous oil.

He held onto the saucepan's handle and sent his Aura through it. The half-circle of grease loss its shape and turned back into its liquid form. He moved the pan around, coating the entirety of it before settling it down and adding in the now finished pasta.

He swirled it around with a large fork before finishing it off with grated cheese add with every couple of rotations.

Elizabeth and Patty sniffed and drooled at the smells. Patty blinked at the growl echoing from her sister's stomach, the able-bodied sister licking her lips as she got up.

"Dinner's on," Obito got out just in time as Liz pushed Patty, in her recliner, towards the kitchen and the two found plates laid out for them with steaming, _delicious-looking_ food in it.

Obito stood and ate as he watched the two girls devour their plates with little remorse. Liz ate like a man out of hell and Patty sat back and swallowed huge forks of food with sauce splashing on her face.

Nobody really knew he could cook, save for those in the Akatsuki. At least, those who'd try anyway, they were still ninja after all.

The way Kisame and Orochimaru's eyes shined upon eating had been funny, but watching Hidan rave about it was more amusing. Especially when he attracted Kakazu and Deidara with his wordy exclamations.

His mouth set into a line as he thought about the Akatsuki. 'Deidara can't be the only one here, right?'

He noted that most of the people he'd met were random at best and not in his best interests at worst, those two categories being Iruka and Deidara, respectively.

Deidara had said he wasn't the only familiar face which meant that there was someone else here who Deidara could recognize.

'That's an annoyingly decent list if we only include those he ever saw after Akatsuki's disbandment.' Obito hoped it was either Sasori, Orochimaru, Zetsu, or, worst of all, _Konan_.

He could take Konan, no doubt about it, even with just his normal Sharingan. It was what she could say to those around him or to those who'd been in opposition of him at the time.

Make no mistake, Konan had no right to call him out for being a murderer when she was no better herself. Hell, no one besides maybe Sasuke and Naruto was.

They were ninja, they danced with death and dealt it out in equal measure. Knowing Kisame, Obito felt he would have heard something about him were he here and causing any sort of trouble. Were it Itachi… he'd like to talk to him. Tell him everything that happened after things went south, same with Kisame. Nagato was another touchy subject but he'd like to talk to him as well and at least let him know his dreams are in good hands.

He blinked, noting that he hadn't finished his plate and did so. Turning, he placed it into the sink and blinked once more as he saw the empty saucepan. He shrugged and took it into the sink and washed them both.

Liz and Patty were just sitting there, Liz on the recliner's armrest, smiling.

"Good god, man!" Liz grinned. "That was fucking amazing!"

"… Are you _sure_ Liz didn't bring you here for _favors_?" the taller sister blushed and looked away.

"Crystal," Obito shook his head at Patty. Finishing up the pot, pan, and dishes, he wiped his hands. "That said, for what can be understood as my extended homestay, I'll need to actually go shopping for some sur…plies…" he trailed off as he turned from the fridge to the bright-eyed Thompson sisters.

" _Fresh_ food?" Patty asked in wonder.

Obito blinked and realized once more, from the apartment to the empty living room, to the very scarce fridge.

They were poorer than ill Faunus in Atlas and he was suggesting actual fresh produce and the like.

He frowned before closing the fridge.

"Yes, I'm not sure if you care to follow?" He asked Elizabeth, who snapped out of her fresh food wonder and grimaced.

"I'll be looking after my sister… but with the way you cook, I bet you have a better idea of what the good stuff is."

Obito shrugged and went to his bag to pull out a dark blue coat that reached his knees with an attachable hood.

"I'll be back," Liz threw a thumb at the window.

"It's better to take the window," he walked towards it, opened it and looked outside. He could see a building across the street, it was maybe a 15 meter jumped.

Doable.

"I'll let you in, just call. Wait, lemme see your Scroll." Elizabeth took it from him, punched in her numbers. Obito raised a brow.

"Just call me with the top number," she showed her contact in his phone, a pair, instead of one, of numbers underneath her name. "That's my personal number."

He didn't ask about the second and received it before leaping out the apartment window.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Ochre frown as Inosuke ran into the dominium with excitement, dashing about to look at every little thing, Marrone chuckling as he carried his duffle bag into the home.

"Hm, hm, hm," Coco muffled her chuckles. "He seems happy to be here. Last time I brought someone home you ran them out within the same hour."

"You mean that Elizabeth girl?" Ochre asked to which Coco frowned.

"She had her chance and I've given up on that selection for now, hmm," Coco's grin returned. "That said, for my first foray back to men I've had this rather aloof guy in my sights for a bit."

Ochre shook her head at her voracious sister. "Try not to cause any problems with my colleague."

"Oh, come on! He's around my age!"

"And an actual working adult, unlike someone." Coco pouted at her. "I still have the opportunity, Coco."

"Nah," the shorter-haired sister denied it. "I think I'm gonna like being a Huntress."

'For how long though?' Ochre thought before moving into their home.

"Inosuke, I swear to god if you don't get your feet off that _this instant!_ "

"Whoah!" a yell and a crash was the response to her command and Ochre hoped this whole thing blew over quickly.

Otherwise, she might be liable for Manslaughter of a minor!

 _ **~NRK~**_

"Nice digs, it's got a real homely feeling to it. Real nice," Liza raised a brow as Velvet shuffled about into the home and just stood to the side.

"Do you not have a home, Mr. Branwen?" Qrow sputtered.

"What?! No!" he grumbled at her giggling. "I live on Patch with my nieces, when I'm around at least." That caught her attention.

"Oooh! Is Patch as warm as I've heard? I hear it's usually warm all year."

"Yeah, it's nice not having to be dressed for every single season like most people. It's a little bit chillier in the winter months but it's still perfectly fine fer shorts!"

"No wonder it's such a nice vacation spot! It's just like Menagerie! Oh, hey mom!" Coming from the front door. Entering in mid-conversation, Qrow found himself introduced to a tall woman with grayish streaks in her blond hair.

'Uh oh, strike zone,' Qrow thought with a wince as he looked at Liza Carmel's mother.

With her eyes meeting his on an equal plateau, her high cheekbones, amazing lazy blue eyes, and interesting blond hair. Her Faunus features didn't do anything but enhance all this in his eyes. She was dressed in some homely clothes, a pair of shorts and a tank top with a white apron on. All of this over a _very nice_ well-built figure.

'Woman could you be any more perfect?!' he ogled her for a moment over the horizon of his flask and put up a confident exterior.

"Good evening ma'am," he saluted with a grin at the woman who looked at him with suspicious eyes.

"Mom, hold on, I know what you're thinking and the situation is nothing like that but more complicated. Also, we _might_ have another guest coming, hehe."

"Evening my asking awed audience! I've come to meet your masked motives!" Luke entered with a personal announcement and blinked as he looked around.

'Interesting.'

 _ **~NRK~**_

He looked up from his sleeping bag as he heard the snores of Patty and Liz from the other room.

He went over everything that happened during his tenure as a cop and realized how ridiculous it all was over _one month_.

'What's in these Vaults? There's no way that there are only valuables in there-'

* * *

 _"This is also why Orichalcum exists. In our goal to spread the ability to use magic, we also are in search of these answers because there's one thing we know for sure."_

 _"The King of Vale from 80 years ago had a hand in the creation of Aura and, by association, knows magic."_

* * *

'…Oh.' He'd forgotten that. 'They have the ability to see through things though, at least that's what I felt.' He remembered what Dalia had tried and how he seemingly rebuffed her.

If Deidara could use Sight and See, that meant he could have seen the key though. Which meant he might not have to ability, which meant there was certain things only certain… magic-users could use.

'I question the range of their abilities,' he closed his eyes and thought back to what his Sharingan had gleaned from the power Dalia had used.

' **Isaz** and **Pertho**? Perhaps their alphabet is reliant on words? Is it the letters?' he thought it over and repeat the words in his head time and time again.

Isaz for 'Ice' and 'I'.

Pertho for 'Unknown' and 'P'.

He frowned, hadn't there been more? Another meaning he was forgetting. He clenched his eyes as he tried to remember and came up short.

'Worrying' Obito thought as he relaxed and saved it for tomorrow.

* * *

"Yoo~" Obito heard and woke up to. He looked at Liz, who was looking at him with a confused expression.

"Sup." Obito blinked twice.

"Good morning to you Ms. Thompson," his piece said, he got up and stretched. He rolled up his sleeping bag and turned to the girl.

"I assume there's a problem?" she scratched her head nervously.

"Well, yeah," she said with a cross of her arms. "What are we gonna do with this whole case? I was kind of expecting stuff like this to be real super sneaky stuff but I'm coming up blank."

"Well, have you gone through your morning routine yet?" she nodded. "Have you eaten?"

"U-um, speaking of?" she flushed a bit. "Ya think you could cook fer us?"

He shot her a blank look.

* * *

After a quick clean-up and a cold shower, in Obito's case, the adult found himself in the kitchen once more. He boiled some leaves and herbs in a pot on one of the burners and cooked pancakes on the other.

He finished the first pancake and then went through with making some tea. He poured it into a wooden, malformed, mug and handed it to Elizabeth.

"Huh?" She looked down at the steaming drink and scrunched her nose up at the smells. "Ugh! Smells nasty."

"It's for your sister," Obito said and only heard the rushing of feet before a door was kicked open.

"PATTY DRINK UP!"

He turned over the last pancake and began to clean up the dishes with his mind barely focused. He looked at the running water, the sounds white noise in his ears, before turning off the faucet and being left with a large bowl of liquid.

His eyes narrowed and he looked to the door.

"Liz?" he enhanced his ears and heard the taller girl offering platitudes to convince Patty to drink the tea.

He turned from the door to the bowl and threw it a narrow gaze.

"… **Isaz**." He said to no effect.

He frowned and tilted his head before an idea sprung forth. He put his hand in the bowl and allowed his Aura to spring to life around it.

" **Isaz,** " he said once more and the results showed.

A small cube of ice formed on the surface of the water and he just stared at it.

'Progress. Now, what does Pertho do?' He looked behind him, heard more coughing, and looked back at the lone ice cube.

He decided to finish doing the dishes before anything else.

Moments later, putting away the last plate, he was done and looking at the bowl again.

" **Isaz** ," he muttered and, once more, an ice cube formed. It was seemingly the same size… if you didn't have powerful eyes like his.

'It grew by a millimeter?' Perhaps magic wasn't just based on the language but usage? Jutsu you had to train to use and got better at the more you developed your chakra coils and chakra control.

'Is it because I don't have enough control? Or because I'm using Aura alone?'

Too many questions popped up in his mind. The most important being: Could anyone just utter the magical alphabet and use it?

* * *

 _She frowned as she dropped the man. "How fortunate that your compatibility is passable."_

* * *

"Compatibility," Obito uttered as Liz finally left the room with a smirk on her face and his Scroll vibrated.

"I don't know what you did but it's working," she put the cup in the sink. "Been a while since Patty could go more than thirty minutes without coughing."

"I see, that's good. That said we have to go meet up with the others." He turned to show the text to Elizabeth whose lips went flat.

"Alright, lemme grab my stuff," she said only to walk to the corner of the room and popped open wooden paneling to reveal her gun and knife.

She spun the barrel before putting it away.

"Alright, let's do this."

Opening the window, the two exited the apartment with a call from Liz to Patty about them going out.

 _ **~NRK~**_

They passed the broken down checkpoint and landed in one of the alleyways. A second later, they entered the morning sun once more and walked down towards the police department.

"So… any idea of what we're gonna do?" Liz asked as she sauntered down the clean streets of middle Vale.

"The likely action we're to take is going back to the bank and getting any information from Luke Atme as possible. Speaking of, what is your Semblance? You made it sound horrible but I can tell you're lying." Elizabeth blinked before grinning.

"I'm learning more about ya every day, huh?"

"Topic."

"Alright, well, my Semblance lets me see these 'lines'," he raised a brow at that. "Hold on, it's like, the world is full of these lines. I can see and touch them and they do different things depending on how I want them to work and where or on what they are." She blinked before her eyes glowed and turned to the wall beside them.

Obito watched as she left a trail of… grey as they walked. Removing her finger, the line let out some dust before turning to sand/gravel.

"Interesting, so you can do what depending on the material?" she shrugged.

"It's like I can decide to do stuff depending on what it tells me. I get these floating options when I leave a 'trail' and I can sort of choose. Leave a trail on a tree, I can 'Cut', 'Peel', or 'Set on Fire'. It's super weird because the third option is always something extreme." She frowned.

"If I 'trailed' that Luke guy's face I can cause 'Rashes', 'Cuts',… Those two, usually I can't see the third option." She finished with a grim expression that Obito let past with no problem.

'I hope you don't have to come upon such a decision any time soon.'

It was something he always found so frustrating about Huntsmen, you don't ONLY kill Grimm…

You are going to kill _someone_ sooner or later.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Meeting up outside the station, the group of nine moved into it to find an irate Luke glaring at a nonchalant Larry Butz in a murderous fashion.

"Listen man, there's nothing I can do," Larry blew at his fingernails. "I'm not on the case and no matter what I ain- OCHRE!" he grinned nervously.

"Watcha doin'? Who are all these guys? Hehe~" Larry rubbed his hands furiously before looking at his watch. "Oh would you look at that! I gotta patrol! See ya!"

He ran like a man out of Hell and the group shot Luke a look.

"That Jittery Jester can't possibly be a police officer," he sighed with a grimace before muttering. "… Not even a personal escort, absurd…"

Obito and Qrow narrowed their eyes while shooting one another a look at the back of the group.

"That rambling ruffian aside, it's good to see you all again," Luke replaced his monocle. "I'm sure your thinking theories will help me with my current catastrophe, yes?" he looked at Ochre expectantly.

"Let's go and revisit the crime scene, shall we?" she offered.

* * *

They strolled along in the cruiser as they reached their destination, the group stumbling out to look at the yellow tape strung around the area.

The area was vacant for the most part with passing civilians rushing to leave the area after taking a quick look.

"… I believe you all want to see the elevator, correct?" Qrow's stare and Ochre's glare was enough evidence. "Very well, but I'm not allowing most of you in. Though I may be forced to do this I will NOT be pushing more buttons than I'm allowed. Decide on two people, _now_."

Luke's frown was enough that Ochre, who frowned, didn't press as she decided what she'd do.

"You're up buddy," Qrow spoke up and laid a hand on Obito's shoulder.

"Come again?" The reincarnated teen asked with a frown.

"Yes, _Qrow_ , what are you talking about?" Ochre's gaze was flat but non-judgemental.

"Yeah, no offense," Coco sent Obito an apology with a grin. "But wouldn't it be better if we had a Huntsmen/Huntress go down with big sis. Probably me or Liz over there," the fashionista threw a thumb in Elizabeth's direction.

"Nah, I'm nominating the cop," she said to the surprise of everyone sans Obito and Inosuke.

"Ya _huh?_ " Coco looked at her like she was crazy before Inosuke spoke up.

"Hmmm," he snorted. "The Almighty Inosuke will allow Tobi to go."

They all looked at him like he was weird sans Obito who facepalmed.

"Okay, who?" Marrone asked with a raised brow as Inosuke pointed at Obito.

"Obito, Inosuke. Hahh, Obito," man in question sighed into his hand. "While this may seem rather strange to most of you, I think this might be for the best."

"I don't understand," Liza put her hands on her hips. "Why send you when one of the students could do it?"

"I agree. Man, you're good but not _Huntsmen_ good, you get me?" Marrone frowned with closed eyes and crossed arms. "There are few things I can believe you _can't_ do but this ranks up there honestly."

"Hold on, I think you've all got something to think about here?" Qrow raised his hands up. "Listen, what are you guys actually expecting down there?"

"…" the silence of the group answered that question and, with that, Qrow turned to Luke. "Is there anything down there that might try to kill anybody?"

Luke looked away bashfully. "Being perfectly honest, I don't know. Like I said, this Vault is the _first_ of Vale. I.E. this has been around for over a century."

Qrow coughed violently into his fist and cleared his throat. "Yeah, see? Anything that might even be a threat down there is probably dead, discontinued, or rusty. Plus, if we have to face that man with the explosives again, I need all of you on lookout."

Marrone, Liza, and Coco looked down in defeat.

"…" Ochre considered both Qrow and Obito for a moment before shrugging. "I'll take what I can get. Midoriya, you're with me."

"Affirmative, Ma'am." With his agreement, the two walked towards Mr. Atme.

"If you're ready, then follow me and stay quiet. I'm unsure of whether that man from yesterday will stay to peruse ponderous products past pasture."

The group followed Luke to the point where his office was and the man looked around before reaching down and clearing away some rubble.

"Underneath my carpets," Luke began.

"It's actually like a movie, holy shit." Liz stared in utter astonishment.

"'Art imitates life', right? I believed stuff like this was more… imaginary," Liza added with a worried expression.

Luke pulled away the last piece of broken wood to find a trapdoor underneath. It was brown in color with darker brown lines going down it. There was no other things on it. Were it not for the soot, dirt, and debris, surrounding it one could have mistaken it for normal wood paneling were it not the least bit disfigured.

Qrow nodded. "I see, if someone were to move the rugs it'd look just like the floor. That said, where's the handle?"

Luke looked down, brows knitting together before speaking. "Mr. Branwen, this is part of the point where I'd like to ask you to stay to the perimeter. This is as far as I can show you as a group."

Qrow nodded before ushering away all but Obito and Ochre. Luke looked to see the group moving around them, some of the Huntsmen students taking varying elevations to cover all grounds.

"Hahh, I must ask you this. Are you two sure you want to do this?" Luke's serious tone set them on edge.

"Yes… Why?" Ochre's expression turned sour. "Why are you asking this now?"

Obito watched the man before he pulled out the key.

"I don't know what we'll find down there but I know this: Whatever we do must **never** be spoken about. We must not touch anything… let anything touch us." Luke uttered the last bit quickly, causing the two cops' eyes to widen before they all disappeared with the press of the key to the door.

Qrow blinked. Once, twice, multiple times before he came a single answer.

"I gotta talk to Oz about this."

Preferably tonight.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Obito felt them move and then stop as his vision cleared. He covered his mouth and turned to the sound of coughing. Luke hacked away in his corner as Ochre had her own arm over her mouth.

Once Luke stopped, they all turned around and took in where they were.

"What…?" Luke stared wide-eyed with a handkerchief covering his lower face. "What, WHAT IS ALL THIS?!" his screams echoed, causing all of them to have wide eyes.

"This can't be a vault," Ochre cursed as she detached a flashlight from her belt and looked around, Obito doing the same.

There were passageways around the room, three that went in different directions.

"... I believe this is enough," Luke looked pale before turning to the two cops. "This is enough, correct? This is all you needed!"

Ochre grit her teeth as she continued to look around. Obito hummed before nodding.

"Ochre, I think he's right," Obito said much to Luke's relief. "This might be us stepping on someone's toes," he added with a narrowed gaze.

The two looked at each other, both coming to the conclusion that being down here was more dangerous than it was worth.

She clicked off her flashlight before turning to Luke. "Atme, you said you're not allowed to come down here? Then how is this place used?"

Luke's twitched to and fro before he answered. "Any clientele that would even beckon the need for this place will have me step out of the room. They use the key, I only hold onto it." he sighed. "I've caught peeks at the door to my office. It has a reverse peephole that I can use to keep an eye on my own belongings."

Ochre nodded before the trio walked together and Luke looked at the key in his hands.

They stared at it as Luke's gaze narrowed as raised the key and wiggled it.

He swallowed and raised it again.

Again.

And again.

"N-No… No!" He screamed as he held up the key, waving it around madly with fear etched into his face. "Open! Return! Leave! For the love of OPEN SESAME!"

The key was inert, doing nothing for or to them.

Frowns passed between the cops.

"Of course," Ochre's anger was well hidden but it peaked near the end of her sentence. "Just _great._ "

Obito couldn't have agreed more.

* * *

They walked down one of the pathways, Ochre leading upfront with Obito in the middle and Luke sulking in the back.

"My bank… my credibility… gone."

The man mumbled.

They traveled a ways into the rocky chambers and noted the lines moving throughout the hall they traveled down.

The hall began to decline and they looked forward, trying to see the room that'd come next. It was as they were going further down that the air seemed to _change_. It vibrated in front of them, teasing their skin and shifting this vision ever so slightly.

"What…?" Ochre said with a confused tone and narrow eyes. "Midoriya, front and center."

Obito matched pace with Ochre and felt the strange sensations intensify. It was intense now…

… Intense enough that his Sharingan activated on its own, causing his eyes to widen in realization.

'Of course, it's magic, I'd assumed as much but _this_...' he closed his eyes and breathed in before choking. He coughed violently and fell to his knees.

"Midoriya!" Ochre was by his side as he tried to settle his coughs. "Tch! What's going on?" she mumbled to herself.

"I know I can't feel it but..." he heard her say but had to breathe deep breaths. Each one caused his eyes to hurt and flare, to which he decided that keeping his eyes closed was for the best. They felt wet, what was that? Was that copper?

Then a sound reached his ears. Sounds like cracking bone and slapping leather mixed around him as he felt his breaths becoming easier to deal with.

"Wh-What in the world?!" Luke's voice exclaimed from behind him. "I-I…"

"What… a Type?" he heard but wasn't sure what to make of it. He stopped clenching his eyes and took a deep breath before opening one of his eyes, hand covering the right side of his face. He looked and was unsure of what he was seeing as he stared.

There were glowing blue constructs that covered them from behind? Obito blinked and felt the worrying familiarity of these things as the barest of red entered his vision.

… No. It can't be. He snapped his head to the back where Luke was and saw the man sitting on his rear with a wid- eyed expression on his face.

He also saw the back of the ribcage and went pale.

'Susanoo!' he gripped his face even further. 'My Sharingan is going out of control!'

This was bad! Why did this happen?! The reactions were never this bad. What's going on?!

Obito turned back to the way they were going and felt the skeletal ribcage solidify further. All three of them were inside the bones but they needed to leave.

"Obito!" Ochre pulled at the arm covering his face.

Obito held on so that she could bring him up but not pull away the clasp on his face. She looked at him with concern before he shook his head.

"We have to leave!" he shouted while they moved towards Luke and they pulled him to his feet and shuffled further back the way they came, the ribcage following them before disbursing into flame-like energy particles.

Their gait increased to the point all of them ran and found themselves back in a familiar chamber.

Obito bent at the waist and stared at the floor, sweat dripping from his face.

'I'm sweating?' he closed his eyes and exhaled. 'What was that? Was that magic? _That_?'

He didn't understand but had a hypothesis, 'There's more to this Vault than just magic. There's an absurd amount down here and _something_ is causing it.' he breathed one more time before coming back up.

Ochre let out a hiss and walked over to Obito before looking him over. She stopped at his face, raised a hand and gave him a look.

She grimaced at the red streaks running down his cheeks and realized why he'd covered his eyes. She checked his face before carefully pulling down his eyelids to reveal those dark silver orbs of his.

Her frown seemingly sculpted onto her face, she pulled away from her junior officer and handed him a mini towel from her pocket.

"Here," Obito accepted the offered cloth and wiped his eyes. "I don't like this. _Any of this_ , we've got to-"

"AHA! AHA! AHAHAHAHAHA! It's doing something! YES!" the two cops turned to see Luke holding up the key, the item glowing blue with the top of the cavern shining the same color.

They rushed over to him, barely in time too, as the light engulfed them and they disappeared from the 'Vault'.

* * *

They appeared as quickly as they left, the trio looking around and noting that none of the others had moved from their spots before they stood.

Ochre's eyes looked to all the others, noting that none of them had moved an inch since they left.

She sighed at that and grimace. 'Tsk!'

Obito watched as Ochre's expression went from confused to surprised to resigned all in one loop.

He himself wasn't exactly sure of what to say, honestly.

What had gone on down there simply had no real explanation… in the sense of what Deidara would have wanted. If he was right, it was a large source of magic.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"Hey, oh glorious leader!" Deidara held a smug grin as he looked at Negrandle. "I got one of those artifacts you're looking for." he spun the disc-like object on the tip of his finger.

Negrandle looked at the magic terrorist with a grimace. "Deidara, we've talked about this. Why did you _attack the bank in broad daylight?!_ We want to _help save the world_ not make it _worse_!"

"Un. Yeah, I get that… but your merry troupe hasn't exactly been getting the results ya wanted, Un." the ponytailed blond smirked. "This was a lot faster."

Negrandle sighed into his palm as he tried to figure out what to do with Deidara.

"I understand that this got us one step further but there's a reason we've not come out yet. I'm thankful you didn't wear your cloak but this is going to make things harder for us. The sole reason we've remained under the radar for so long is because we've made no such move like yours."

The blond frowned and Negrandle responded. "I'm happy you've taken our goals to heart but please, speak with me first. If not to change your mind but then to at least help plan these things more… _eloquently_."

The former ninja hummed before grinning. "Gotcha boss! I promise, I got this." With his piece said, he tossed the leader of Orichalcum the artifact and walked off.

"Deidara?" the man in question stopped and looked back with a confused look. "Was there anything of worth at the bank? I figure there would be more items such as this there if the artifacts were being sent there particularly."

"Un. Nah, not really, though I did run into some Huntsmen," he sent him a salute and walked off.

Negrandle stared at Deidara's back as the man left with a worrying smug energy.

"You do realize that he's untrustworthy, yes?" a familiar looking member scampered up to him, the small cloak covered white weasel crossing its paws. "He reeks of mischief, distrust, and self-ambition. I don't need to tell you how bad of a mix that is."

"Hahhh, I know," Negrandle sighed with a hand to his temple as he began to lower his hood before the weasel beat him to it and pushed it firmly back onto his head.

He looked at the familiar and frowned as it shook its head.

"Listen, I know this sounds wrong but you can't show yourself when in the vicinity of that member. I don't know who invited him but I get the feeling that, whomever they are, their interests align elsewhere and not here."

The Orichalcum leader looked down in thought before nodding to her. "Very well, though I'd like to give him a chance. I can't go through life distrusting every person with negative emotions. That's basically all most of us can truly feel."

"Just, I don't know, find someone you can trust beyond a shadow of a doubt over here. I promise you, having someone who can be trusted completely can change a person. Hm, how about that Collbrand?"

Negrandle's eyebrows shot up. "No offense to the man himself, his drive is admirable but… have you seen him Zero? He looks like he eats watermelons like their grapes."

"Kekeke, I have but it's rather funny how big he is and he's still human. Mercenary has the full Faunus package and isn't as tall as Collbrand is. But that aside, I feel like Collbrand's motives are far more respectable than most of the members."

"Hmmm, perhaps, I'll think about it. That business done, I'm wondering, how is the search going over there?" The weasel shot him an amused look.

"We've found more artifacts in Shion than expected but sadly there's no leyline ther-"

"No, Zero, Loki of Mistral." she stopped completely, expression, even for an animal, falling flat. "I ask you as the Loki of Vale, have you found any of the other gods yet?" she didn't move for a moment before raising a hand in his direction.

Their eyes glowed, purple and white flowing between them before mixing into a hazy pink. Images flashed, words and people shown and revealed, before it all came to an abrupt end.

Negrandle frowned heavily. "Nothing I see."

"I have to wonder sometimes about you, Negrandle. You've seen what I see but it works inversely as well. You've found hints to the leyline, the Tiu, and an assortment of artifacts… All that's left is-"

"Finding the God-Hero," he finished.

There was silence as Zero waited, watching Negrandle's face contort for a moment before settling into an impassive expression.

"There's something here that I think is pulling my senses every so often. You may see my sights and feel what I touch but the sense is always missing. I..." he struggled to place his thoughts. "Something here is responding in kind to my magic. To all the magic users in Vale. Just recently there was a spike that I had to keep under control less it affect the majority of our group in Vale."

"I think-"

[br]

 _It stared down at him, that obscene looking skeleton. It's form flickered; bare, covered, armored…_

 _Complete._

 _It's form gazed at him in his dreams, staring him down and considering him. His own skeleton encased him, matching gaze with this…_ thing _._

 _It changed again, its gaze far and away from him and he saw it's structure become more animalistic. Four legs, bone wings with no webbing between, and a skull, long, angular, and reptilian._

 _It roared and left with a flap of its bony appendages._

[br]

"Dreams are usually more exact but I've finished?" the man blinked, his question confusing his compatriot and he himself.

He was finished? He frowned.

"I believe I've found the last god of Vale." Zero looked overjoyed. but the emotion was stifled by Negrandle's crossed arms.

"Are you not happy?" the voice coming from the familiar asked. "This is joyous news!"

"Yes, it is… but I'm unsure of this person's character. His skeleton is, for lack of a word, _huge_."

"So? So are ours." she looked at him with a curious look. "What did it look like?"

He frowned.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He looked around, the world of his dreams failing the young man once again, as he looked at this floating orb in front of him.

His eyes burned red, tomoe moving rapidly in circles as it stared at the skeletal head that eclipsed him in size many times over.

Obito frowned, more of a grimace really, as he looked at it.

It was a dragon's skull and he couldn't help but be attracted to it. He blinked as it appeared in front of him and jumped back a distance as he watched intensely.

 _Master_

Obito frowned as he thought he heard something.

 _I'm right here! Please release me!_

He looked at the inhumanly large skull with a grimace. He looked to his right hand and found a kunai waiting in its grasp.

 _NO!_

It twirled in his hand before being positioned over his chest.

 _NOOO!_

Its voice, unheard to the world, echoed across this mental land as the young man stabbed himself and disappeared from the dreaming plane.

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **And that's chapter 9, learning more of what the higher powers that be want hidden is taking its toll on Obito. To what extent? Well, he's not sure but surely he's not the only one unaffected.**_

 _ **With that said, thank you all for reading.**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	11. Fade To Black

_**Welcome one and all to this long awaited and horribly off time chapter that I wish I had a better excuse for this late thing… just some things that happened this past December that brought everything full stop.**_

 _ **My sibling gave up the ghost and I'm better now than the past month in comparison, so I guess that's why.**_

 _ **No real words here.**_

 _ **Sorry and enjoy.**_

 _ **P.S. This song had been stuck in my head during the Velvet, Obito, and Coco's segments: Rollin by Limp Bizkits**_

 _ **P.S.S. IT comes to my attention that something needs to be said. Ahem, this is NOT A MULTICROSSOVER FIC. Any characters used in this story, disregarding of media, is used in the place of making an OC so people DON'T have to keep track of those.**_

 _ **I can bet barely any of you really remember Dahlia's looks and that's simply the downside to using OCs unless they're distinct enough to warrant holding a space in your head. THIS is why other media characters have their backstories repurposed for this fic, they're basically OCs that you have an idea of and give a little more information on the narrative.**_

 _ **No more, no less. That said, I've already changed the summary to reflect this and not have more random viewers getting such an idea into their heads. This is just like the whole "Obito is using a gun as his weapon" people...**_

 _ **UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE: Nothing is concrete for small stuff like that... or in this case BIG stuff, because RWBY.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

The ride was smooth, smoother than any of the cruiser vehicles he'd ridden in over the course of the past month as a cop.

Obito's arms were crossed as he leaned back and stared out at the moving scenery outside of Waters-Brown's limo. The limo that picked them up and was ferrying the seven of them, him, Ochre, Qrow, Marrone, Liza, Coco, and Velvet.

They had splintered simply on the fact that Liz couldn't come this far out for Oum knows how long they'll stay and leaving behind a Faunus like Velvet was a no go, regardless of any progress Elizabeth Thompson might have made.

Ochre had been intent on Coco following, saying that, in single combat, Coco excelled and had long-range for the group. None of them disagreed and had taken Velvet… because they had to if Obito was being honest. He'd given Liz & Inosuke keys to his house, for both their benefits of moving location and just for sanitary reasons.

Even if for only a few days, they'd have a clean home with plentiful food in their fridge. Obito wasn't a bleeding heart but he was getting a better handle on his emotions what with all the chemicals running through his body via puberty. He was trying to reclaim a little bit of the person he was before meeting Madara but it was an uphill battle with rocks tied to his body.

He was too cynical & mature for that, he couldn't be that happy little boy who wanted to help everyone for no reason. That said, he could do what he could, even if it all felt calculated in his head.

He turned from the window to the internals of the back of the limo, eyeing the rest of his group sitting around and either talking or sitting in silence.

"I was _not_ expecting to be in a limo this early," Coco said ecstatically as she helped herself to one of the exotic juices in the mini-fridge by her foot at the window. All under Ochre's terse eye, the older Adel not saying a word with her sister getting the message.

Liza looked uncomfortable, looking around at large intervals but overall just trying not to touch too many things. Velvet took a page out of her book and just crunched in as comfortable as possible in her seat and looked away from any moving gazes.

Marrone was a surprise seeing as he also crossed his arms but with a frown on his face. He wasn't looking at anything really, lost in thought.

Ochre and Qrow near one another, the Huntsmen leaning forward with a straight-lipped expression and his hands bridged in front of his mouth. Ochre looked at peace for as long as Obito had been with her, just sitting back with a relaxed expression, keeping her eyes on Coco's frequent forays into the small fridge.

Qrow looked up and caught his gaze, Obito rose a brow and the older Branwen cupped his chin before shaking his head, eyes flicking to all it could.

 _Not now, later_ , was the message he got and he nodded.

There was the squeak of glass and Obito looked on as the black glass separating the back of the limo from the front came down. Luke peered out and looked at them all.

"I'm glad to see you all enjoying the entertainment but I must inform you we're closing in on the long-awaited location."

All in attendance looked out the windows and saw the large mansion getting closer. A white-colored, gold-embroidered, mansion that sat on a long strip of land over a cliff. IT was wider than it was tall, looking to be able to house two whole fire stations and a large townhouse on a bad day.

"Cliché established," Coco said, to which Marrone, Qrow, & Liza, nodded as well.

Ochre looked at the mansion with a frown as did Obito, the younger cop, seeing no one watching him, turned on his Sharingan behind Ochre.

His eyes went wide as he stared at the side of the mansion.

'People!' he noted and turned off his Sharingan as soon as he saw them. They may have this See and Sight ability that Dalia had and he wasn't taking any chances. That and also, he could see one of them turning in his direction as he cut off the Aura running to his eyes.

'There's over three of them,' Obito didn't recognize any of those signatures so Dalia wasn't here. That left him multiple unknowns with a group at large.

If he was right, they were here for a couple of reasons. Either they were going for another artifact, and they were following them, or they were here to try and silence them because of Deidara.

Or both, in which case, he'd have to inform Qrow and they'd have to deal with their aggressors somehow without everyone knowing.

 _ **~NRK~**_

They were lead through a foyer, the entrance of the building long and extravagant before even touching the main lobby.

Pictures, miniature statues, and art, lined the walls in circular and perfect symmetry. Entering the main lobby revealed even more of such things and the group nearly found themselves blinded from how bright and clean it all was.

"Ugh," Marrone covered his eyes, Liza and Velvet doing the same, before taking away the limb, blinking at the glows. "Geez, could this be any cleaner?"

"Right," Qrow said. "We'll start the look around, alright, Atme? There any other rules we should know about?"

"Hmmmm, besides not taking anything off the walls, smudging the products, and entering rooms without permission, that should be everything. You all know what your current permissions are so this should be it." Luke stated, adjusting his monocle and looking at the group.

"Alright, split up, and reconvene in an hour. We'll meet back here," that bit said, the group separated, Obito and Qrow going in the same direction with the others either talking to the help or leaving.

The brothers walked a distance before splitting up at a corner.

Obito tapped his ear a bit. "Qrow,"

" _Yeah?"_

"There's obstacles already here. They were at the side of the mansion, the left side looking in."

"… _Fuck. You get any good visuals on them?"_

"No, I think one of them could see me, I turned away the first chance I got." Obito responded as he turned a corner and went into a room labeled Mysterious Mass Pieces.

He turned his head to every side, frowning as he realized they might need to watch security footage AND get a before & after photo for this building.

" _Tsk! We'll save this for later, I'm sure we both don't want the kiddies getting involved. Plus, we don't know if they'll wait till midnight or not."_

That was true and made this whole situation worse if he was being honest.

Wait for his group to get tired and just attack them to distract them while they were. Whatever plan they had might go off without a hitch if so.

Obito was sure of his strength but if any of these people had some potent magic, could hide from his senses and combat experience, they were in for a rough day.

He found nothing in a room full of statues and went back out before he froze. He frowned as he stayed still, hand pressing on his ear piece before coming down.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Hehehe, not to bother ya but can I ask ya to take a nap?" came the voice behind him, raspy and

A male? In their mid-twenties, possibly a mental case but Obito was unsure whether this was an act or a vocal quirk.

He needed to dig. "I take it you're the group who our client has been harassed by?"

"Now why would we do that?"

"Humour me. I can't imagine it's riches, you lot seem to get around just fine without normal people like me noticing."

" _You?_ Normal? Kekeke!" he laughed, the flashes of dark, almost black, green hair spilled from the hood.

"I'd say I'm quite normal compared to you."

"Is that so?" their grin was visible from the hood of their cloak. "I can tell ya you're _way_ more than normal if ya aren't flipping out right now but what would I know?"

The cloak lowered. "Now, I'd love to chat but you see..."

Obito bent back, the offender's leg swinging over him before his hand hit the floor allowing him to twist while bring up his lower body.

The intruder blocked the kick before skidding away from him, his feet cracking the floor as he came to a stop.

Flipping back to his feet, Obito got into stance. "I guess talking isn't an option?"

"Nah," he could hear the glee in the cloaked intruder's voice. "It's more fun this way."

The intruder lunged at Obito once more, slamming his foot against Obito's forearm.

The adopted child moved the leg to the side before grabbing it and throwing the man over his shoulder. Landing with his back facing Obito the former ninja was already behind him, catching him off guard and punching the thief in the back.

"Argh!" the cloaked man flew into the opposite wall with a 'crack!' before landing on his knees.

"Okay..." Obito felt the man's eyes narrow and focus on him as he turned around. "Maybe I shouldn't play around."

He ran at the cop once more and threw a punch, the cop, mturning into the man's guard, grabbed the fist and the two spun counterclockwise.

Obito stopped the rotation with a throw that sent the man back into the wall he'd hit earlier and the side of the hallway cracked once more.

"O-Oi! That's not fair."

"Life's not fair."

"Tell me about it, I've barely lived a week and I'm getting my ass kicked." Obito frowned at the words.

'Is he artificial?' Obito could only assume, not knowing magic's ins and outs left him horribly off-foot. 'So someone in their group can create artificial beings?'

"Geez, let's try this again," the man came at him and Obito prepared for anything.

Except for the arm to shoot out again and, at the last moment, turn into a sword?!

Obito's eyes went wide as he slipped past the vertical chop but jumped as the man's leg swung out and turned into a scythe.

The cop leaped back with his assailant following after as they continued this match of theirs.

Obito continued dodging with a thought in mind.

'This seems similar to what I've heard of the Kaguya clan.'

The wielders of bones in their own bodies had been a strong clan that died out by the time of the Kyuubi attack. A clan of nonsensical bloodshed, they'd died fighting a battle to prove themselves.

And this person seemed to be of the same making.

Dodging a rather overextended roundhouse, Obito's fist made contact with the man's side and the cop was rewarded with an "Ooophf!" before he swept the intruder's legs from underneath him and slammed him into the ground.

"Kawgh!" he spat out blood as the floor cracked under the throw. "Cawhf! Cawfh!"

Obito eyed the man with a frown as his hood fell and revealed a young, androgynous, face twisted in pain.

"Da-dam, Kaugh!" the man tried to curse but began coughing anew. "This sucks!"

"Well, maybe this should teach you not pick fights you can't win," Obito said before he shot back.

"I concur," another cloaked man, his voice deep but tinted by age, pulled his sword back with a flourish. "You're brand new, perhaps you should take this young man's advice and stay back to learn for a bit."

"Seriously? Right _now_? In front of the guy who just put me on my ass," the green-haired man asked incredulously. "G-Gods, this sucks and everything _hurts_!"

"Hmm," the newcomer looked down at his fellow man, the new man's height made him taller than Obito by half a foot, about 6 feet. "Get out of here."

Obito's eyes blazed red, Sharingan spinning into existence, as he blurred forward toward the two. An item was dropped from the sleeve of the larger man's cloak down to the fallen cloaked man.

He was upon them mid drop, hand reaching out for the item.

A sharp eye gazed down at Obito.

Tomoe spun in their red container.

Obito slid to a halt, rotating as he stopped to eye the larger man as a scratch of leather against leather.

Obito's eyes watched the standing cloaked intruder before the sound of metal slicing through the air met all ears.

A 'CLANG' rang out as Qrow brought Harbinger down onto the more slender blade held in the cloaked intruder's hands.

"Erg," Qrow smirked at the older man. "I guess we can turn this party into a soiree."

"Hmph," the older cloaked intruder grunted as his and Qrow's blades pushed off one another, letting the Huntsman touch ground.

He held his sword in front of him with a slight shift of the hilt. "So my cop friend, how's the company?"

"They can't take a hint."

"Is that so? Heh," Qrow laughed a bit before turning on the two men. "Then let's show them the way out."

"These _are_ rather unfavorable conditions," the larger man gripped his cloak before tossing it aside. "Ah, much better."

Underneath, reveal to the world, lay a grizzled older man, with black, clean-cut, hair and rich blue eyes with a cross-shaped scar between them on olive skin. Obito was correct in his previous observation of the man's height and Qrow could identify his broad build.

"Now," he put his hands on two of the five swords at his waist, his white dress shirt wrinkling with the motion. "Have at me, no?"

He crouched, his dark brown pants comfortably fitting on him while trailing down into black combat boots. His two swords held out at his sides.

The Branwen brothers looked at one another before nodding and running at the man.

"Envy!"

"Tsk!" the green-haired man on the floor kissed his teeth before he got up in unnatural fashion. His body was like liquid as he got on his feet from the foot up.

"O-Okay!" Envy steadied himself. "Getting it back together! Let's do this!"

The two Branwen thought they were prepared for anything until Envy _transformed_.

A white, demon-like creature, with enlarged horns, a long tongue, and larger fists that touched the floor. All the while the shifting of his body caused the cracking of bone and wriggling muscle to echo in the hallway, a disgusting display if you asked either of the two Branwen.

" _ **I'm gonna KILL YOU!**_ "

Obito and Qrow separated to the sides as the demon rushed them. The oldest man in the room dashed at the Huntsmen while Envy moved to attack Obito.

Qrow ducked under a swing before parrying a slash from the intruder. The old man grunted as he stabbed at the Huntsmen before stepping back from Qrow's retaliation.

Dodging the stab and seeing his own swipe dodged, Qrow allowed his weapon to mecha-shift into a familiar and more comfortable form.

His scythe at the ready, he lunged at the older man and brought the blade down in an arch that was blocked by a twin pair of swords. Taking another approach, Qrow disengaged by breaking the stalemate and moving back, all the while curving his weapon to slice anyone that'd follow his retreat.

Obito ducked swipe after swipe as Envy chased after him. He felt his back hit a wall and saw Envy's claw aim for his face.

He hopped on the wall before flipping over Envy after which he kicked the demon-like being into the wall.

" _ **Guh**_!" the monster shook its head, dust falling from its coarse-looking skin. " _ **I'm going to tear you apart!**_ "

"..." Obito simply activated his Sharingan and blinked at what he saw.

'There's a core?' he could see the energy coalescing into a single part on this thing's body. 'Dahlia didn't have a core though, so what is this thing?'

Thinking back to earlier words of the monster in front of him, he realized that this 'Envy' person is in fact, artificial.

He knew what to do.

He pulled the handle of his knife from the holster on his leg and brought it up.

He would kill ag-!

"Fire!"

The room became an orchestra of gunfire and screams as Envy writhed on the floor, smoke billowing from the various holes in his body.

The older intruder grunted, several bullets in his side, with most of the others deflected or blocked entirely.

Obito was a little surprised by the turnout of their allies showing up but he wouldn't say he was displeased.

"Hah!" Coco grinned as she hung her mini-machine gun over her shoulder. "I knew you couldn't live without me."

Obito rolled his eyes at her but kept looking at Envy. "Good of you to make me sound helpless."

"Don't be like that, hon!"

The others had made it, all eyes and guns trained on the two intruders.

"The hell is _that_?!" Marrone said as he looked at Envy with barely hidden disgust. "No seriously, what the actual fuck?"

"Transforming Semblance, not too bright but entirely dangerous," Obito answered.

"Yeah," Qrow landed besides his brother with his scythe over shoulder. "The old guy isn't bad either, he's clearly pulling all the weight here."

" _ **OI!**_ " the demon yelled. " _ **The hell's that supposed to mean! I'm awesome!**_ "

"Envy, now's not the time," the older man said.

" _ **Shut it, Bradley! You're not the one getting shit on here!**_ " the demon said.

The man, Bradley, let out an irritated sigh. "Great."

"Midoriya," Obito tilted his head in Ochre's direction. "Update."

"Bradley is an adept user of the blade, he's fended Qrow off for the time it took you all to get here. Envy, the monster, is easily lead, non intuitive and overall dangerous without a guide."

" _ **You're mocking me again, aren't you?**_ "

"No."

" _ **Good**_."

"Envy."

" _ **Right, right,**_ " the demon waved its large fist in a dismissive fashion. " _ **We really need to get outta here, though. Things are getting crowded too soon.**_ "

"Indeed," Bradley said as he reached behind him. "Our time here was short but-"

He was a shadow against a grey background, Bradley looked around at his surroundings before looking at his own hands.

They vibrated, an inky black shape that stood out against the greyed backgrounds as an object turned to dust in them.

The black shape of a man shrugged as he removed a sword-shaped black blot from his back.

The inky blot of a man dashed to Qrow's back, sword raised before he stood still.

"Release," Bradley uttered as the world returned to color, noise returned to his ears, and vibrations ran throughout his body.

He swung.

* * *

Obito wasn't sure why he'd felt off the moment the man spoke near the end.

There was a build-up of _something_ that threw him off and he wasn't confident in the fact he would have reacted without doing something.

His eyes were red, even with Coco besides, an inch away from being discovered, he turned on his Sharingan.

The next day he'd be eternally grateful, after all…

It was the only reason Qrow was still with them right now.

* * *

Rotating tomoe caught the world stilling in motion and watching as Bradley's shadow sprung from his back and appeared behind Qrow. He watched the world return to color and the Bradley in front of them _shift_ through his shadow's motions like a sped-up tape.

His form poised above Qrow left Obito with one option.

The younger Branwen grabbed Qrow's collar, pulling the Huntsmen and, by proxy of the force he'd used, himself back and off the floor.

The rapier-sword wasn't that long and he Aura that formed a block near the spot that it had the most minuscule chance of hitting.

He was sure they'd made it out of ra-

He spasmed, the entrance of… _something_ entering his body left him feeling a sharp sense of despair.

His eyes looked at the world in slow motion, peering down to see a blade of darkness exiting an open gash on his side, the blade extending outward from Bradley's blade.

The world returned to normal and the brothers hit the floor.

Qrow with a grunt and Obito with a 'splat'!

The room was silent, the actions taken had taken maybe all of 4 seconds but the impact could have lasted hours.

"OPEN FIRE!"

Obito hissed as he lay on his back, eyes blinking as he heard the stutter of shoes before Qrow appeared in his vision, worry painted on his face.

"What the fuck!?" he growled as he looked at the wound.

His eyes were wide as he watched dark wisps of energy release from the cut at a constant rate. The fire in the background stopped as the intruder spoke up.

"I'd be careful if I were you," Bradley said in a measured tone, Qrow's murderous eyes doing little to offset his mood. "I guess you could call this my Semblance, anything I cut shan't be healed easily."

"I for one hope you have an ambulance at ba-!" One of his twin swords swiped down and split a bullet. "Wounds like mine will last for the whole day without rest."

" _ **Shi, shi, shi, shi! Got 'Em!**_ " Envy snickered to himself. " _ **That's one down, one to g-! OW you bitch you SHOT ME!**_ "

Coco's eyes narrowed as she leveled her pistol once more. "Shut your mouth, you Hellboy reject!"

Her gun shot off once more, followed by another ring of shots from the others.

"Ugghh," Obito groaned quietly with Qrow and Liza applying bandages and gauze to his side.

"No, no, no, shit!" the female Faunus said as blood continued to seep from the wound. "... This is his fault, right?!" Liza shouted over the gunfire!

"Take care of him!" Qrow got up, a snarl on his lips with Harbinger at his side. "I'm gonna make sure this is taken care of! Get him to safety!" With that, he rushed off at Bradley, the Huntsmen weaving in and out of gunfire before slamming into the artificial being.

"Hut!" the older man grunted as he used his twin blades to block Qrow's angry swing. "Well then!" He pushed off before using one blade to slice through another set of bullets.

He bent down as Envy clawed for the Huntsman's face.

Meanwhile, through that strange and off putting _familiarity_ with darkness, Obito grunted as Liza held him by the shoulder, leading him away from the fighting.

"Ar! We need to… tell Atme," he got out, limping in step with his fellow Faunus officer supporting him.

"We'll get Atme and get the hell out of here, alright?" she asked him, frantic eyes looking into his pained ones.

"Tsk!" Obito hissed through his teeth and forcefully stopped the two of them as a bullet ricocheted overhead.

"... Crap," Liza said as she turned her head to the mayhem and ducked to try and move them forward.

"Gods!" Liza leaned a bit too far, red tainting her side from Obito as they fell a bit.

Obito grimaced. 'I can't get my feet to work well! What is this?!'

He'd known little to nothing about magic so any of the effects of what that thing, Bradley, had done was lost on him.

Besides incessant bleeding, that blade had done something more to him: disorientating him, shocking his system and making it hard to react.

He thought back to when Dahlia tried to See into him and he somehow reflected the attempt.

His eyes burned as Sharingan came to life, the doujutsu flickering, Aura burning oddly.

'It disrupted my Aura?' he wasn't sure, perhaps the blade was enchanted.

With everything he'd learned, Enchanted Blades was such an obvious concept he was annoyed at the fact he would face one so soon… Or more so before fighting his father if he was right about a lot of things.

He grunted as Liza stumbled with him once more, the Faunus grunting while carrying him while also watching the fighting just in case.

Obito eyed the Faunus.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Velvet had begun running as soon as she got over how icky Obito's _blood on her clothes_ felt. She'd made it the foyer in no time, having been, to her slight pride, the fastest in her class.

She settled the pale, grimacing, Obito just outside the entrance and turned to address the distraught looking, gasping for air, Luke Atme

"W-what?! Hah! Hah! What happened?! We heard gunshots!" he looked at Velvet with a worried gaze.

She swallowed and began to talk. "T-There w-ere people! They look l-like that o-other man!" she stammered, looked down and tightened her fists.

'I did nothing but run again,' she clenched her fist even further at her failure.

This was how it always was, she wasn't fit for battle. She knew this! She was sure her teacher knew this! Even this cop knew it!

'I'm failing again.'

It was the situation back at that village all over again. She thought she could become stronger, she had her Aura unlocked! She'd been trained!

So why… why was she so weak?!

Just like that moment six years ago!

* * *

 _She watched like the rest of them._

 _Even though he was bloody, he didn't fall. Even though he was cut beyond imagination, he didn't falter._

 _He stood in front of them, of all the children not unlike himself in age, and fought. He fought the man in the mask, he fought that deceiving Faunus woman, and finally…_

 _He fought that_ monster _._

 _He who sported hair that ran down his back in a ponytail. He who had a wound and long sword._

 _He who laughed at being cut and began walking away like it was_ nothing _._

" _Well played!"_

 _She had been in the back, crying tears like no other, and just watched as_ he _stood there and fell. That boy, immersed in blood._

 _Velvet Scarlatina wondered if she could be like that boy._

* * *

She was broken out of her remembrance as color flew out from the building itself.

She couldn't think, her body decided for her and launched itself at the bleeding cop and took both of them outside of the manor. The purple color stopped at the entrance.

She could see on the other side looking around in confusion before he ran to the entrance and bounced off the purple wall.

Her eyes were wide as she looked at the wall before turning her head in every direction and then looking down at the injured cop.

'I-I...' she couldn't think! What was happening?!

"Hmm?" Velvet froze at the voice, the crunch of grass signaling her to another being in front of the mansion. "Well, well, well, _this_ is quite an interesting development."

Velvet slowly turned, her ears rigid, as brown eyes caught sight of another person.

It was a man, a human man, that looked at her curiously. His white skin and waved back, short, spiky hair didn't give him too much personality but that seemed to balance out with his tight black pants, skin-tight muscle shirt, and furred vest.

His curious look turned from her to Obito. "Whew! That looks dangerous!" he said, crouching from where he was to look at Obito.

His tiny black sunglasses, not unlike Coco's, were pulled down so she could see his beady yellow eyes. "Well, nothing to it."

"Sorry kiddies, but I've got things to do and you're in the way of that so..."

Velvet stared at the man, terrified and confused in equal measure as he began to saunter over with a grin. He slammed his fist into his palm, the hands to forearms changing in color to a dark blue.

She froze, staring at him before the grunts and cough of Obito brought her back to reality.

He grimaced as he turned his head and stared at the other man before startling her.

"Le-ave, kaughf!" he spat blood, eyes closing as he tried to adjust himself against the entrance.

"You're the fastest of the group, if I'm correct, that box is to lock you in… You can probably still enter."

"B-B-Bu..." she didn't understand. What was he saying?

Was he telling her to let him _die_?

"You can't fight him," he grunted before sighing. "Whether or not you're a good warrior… this is beyond you, he's too strong."

"You are gentle and don't want to hurt but want to be strong… there's nothing wrong with that but you can't throw your life away."

" _Leave_."

She heard a chuckle, the man having stopped and grinned as he stared at Obito's huffing form, the adopted young man's eyes burned red as he glared.

"He, he, he, hahahaha!" the new intruder slapped a hand against his face in laughter. "Y- _you_! You're great! Heheheh," he covered his mouth to hide a giggle.

"Ya know what? You get on, girlie!" He was now focused in on Obito, the former ninja finding the strength to stand. "Me and your friend here have so much fun to have!"

Obito raised a hand to his hip, the streaming blood down the opposite providing him enough material to bring out his sword.

The flowing stream of Aura formed his weapon, the long katana appearing out of nowhere excited the man and shocked Velvet.

He couldn't lift his left arm so he had to settle for having a one-handed hold on his nodachi. "This is what you want, no?" he gave a slight shift to the blade, the 'chink' of the guard ringing to the excited man's ears.

" _Come_ ," he said, in his original language, getting a squeal out of the grown looking man.

"Yes!" he fist-pumped to the sky. "I get to fight one of _you_?! This has got to be one of the best days of my life!"

Obito didn't have the energy to be annoyed and so settled his foot back. He breathed harder and harder but felt the effects of whatever was affecting him begin to diminish the longer he had his Sharingan active. Unfortunately, whatever was affecting him was also affecting his Aura.

He needed to-!

She held with shaky hands and pushed him gently against the wall of the entrance, Velvet's breathed in before letting out a shuddering breath.

"It's…. it's alright, I'm a Huntress!" she tried to assure him but he could see the tightening of her hands on a dagger.

"... you gotta be kidding me," the man had slumped as he stared at the shaking rabbit Faunus. "Are we _really_ about to do this?! I'm like rock hard right now!"

She blushed before shaking her head. "You're going to be fighting me instead."

Obito could admit, that had been the firmest he'd ever heard her say, which was going to be necessary.

He couldn't tell where the others were but throughout this whole exchange, he had the feeling no one had at least _died_.

That's all they needed right now.

"Hahh~ Whatever, I guess," the enemy shrugged before putting on a smile. "Bring it girlie, I'm gonna warm up on you first then and then I'll get my main course."

Velvet swallowed, spread her feet, and glared. "You'll get nothing!" she lunged at him, her speed getting a bigger smile as he crossed his arms.

The blade skidded along the arm but Velvet, with her eyes wide and open, had enough time to drop as the man's leg came around.

She rolled to the side, Aura coming off her body, in time for him to bring his leg down and crater the floor beneath it.

"Ohh?" he grinned as he turned, just in time to lean back and away from a slicing knife.

Velvet breathed as she brought the knife down on the smiling man's forearms, him having brought them up to block once more with the color change.

He brought his arms apart, deflecting her weapon before whipping a fist into the young girls side.

She spat out saliva before he followed up with a kick, sending her back over to where Obito sat. The earth ruptured as she crashed near him, sending up a burst of smoke.

"Velvet!" he shouted, breath hitching as that man came forward.

She curled into herself, gasping for breath as blood trailed down the side of her mouth.

'!' she couldn't really think, she needed to _breathe_! Air!

She needed so much _air!_

Both men's eyes met and Sharingan bled as the three tomoe became a shuriken.

The grinning man grimaced, holding his head and thrashing backwards. He swung around violently, legs crushing the floor beneath as divots tripped him up on occasion.

'Just a little closer!' he could see the man getting closer to the cliffside the manor was on. So close he came… but he snapped out of it!

There was a pulse in the man's chest and Obito frowned as he bent at the knee and put out rapid pants.

"Fuck me, that SUCKS!" he shouted to the heavens before sagging in relief. He looked over at the two lazily and smirked.

"Damn," the smiling man was now curious as he walked over before stopping and grinning at Obito brandishing his weapon. "Didn't expect her to go down so fast, man. Don't blame me, we both told her to leave."

While right, Obito didn't say anything to agree or disagree to that statement. The man was cordial enough to wave his hand in Velvet's direction.

Obito watched him for a moment before lowering down towards the gasping, mid-spasm, Faunus.

"Though, her still being alive says a lot, after all," the man spoke before aiming a punch toward the ground.

The crater nearly reached the two even with the man having been over five meters away.

All that into one punch, one small area.

"She was fast enough to jump away a bit at least ."

Obito grit his teeth before dropping his nodachi and holding Velvet's head. Her eyes flickered and dilated rapidly along with tremors that shook her skull. He grimaced, head coming down to meet hers.

Lips touched as he blew air into her lungs, doing his best to not cough and make the situation worse.

She latched on, mentally not even thinking about their situation, before he released her and did this action a few more times. Velvet's body slowed down, the spasms being fewer than before but still there.

The pain kept her in her curled position and so that's where Obito left her, using his sword to get to his feet before spitting blood off to the side.

His Sharingan flickered but he applied more and more Aura to it to keep it active. 'This much from one hit?'

It was ludicrous that his reserves, bigger than most gifted graduates at the Academies, would be reduced to half in such a short time.

Or was it that, since his Sharingan acted as some sort of defense, he was lucky to even have use of his Aura at all?

Questions for _far_ later.

"Yes~" the man grinned, hissing the words in excitement as Obito's countenance turned to stone and faced him. "Now _this_ is going to be good!"

Obito took measured steps away from Velvet, the man allowing it and moving with him, before he settled into stance once more.

The man held his arms up in a boxer stance, telling Obito that he'd not been taking Velvet seriously at all. "Man, I must be quite rude, huh? Name's Greed." He offered as he tightened his fist, the color on them a darker version of the one he'd used on Velvet.

"… Kamui," he offered before his Sharingan caught the man's eyes.

"Ugh!" Greed gripped his face, missing Obito's jump towards him. The adopted man appeared at his side before aiming up at the Greed's side.

"Oh!" an arm swung around, catching the bite of the blade to its forearm and stopping the swing completely. "You're gonna be a tricky one!"

Obito was away from the blow as the man cratered the ground once more with his fist.

Rolling to his feet, he faltered slightly as he held his side. 'I can't get hit by even one of those punches.'

He could use Kamui, it was typically such a carefree technique… back when he'd had the Senju cells to push his limits further.

Without them he could use Kamui for 5 seconds at a time before having to wait for a recharge time of 5 more seconds if he held it up for that amount.

Some would say it was still an amazing ability and Obito would agree but so much could happen in that recharge period in a fight. Along with whatever that dark blade from earlier had done, he wasn't too keen on using the technique.

He swerved to the side of a haymaker before bringing his nodachi up to cleave the artificial human diagonally.

His blade swung true, making contact, but the clang and sparks of metal against skin brought the slash to a stop.

"Yeah, yeah!" Obito had already spun out of range of the man before he'd begun talking. "You don't fucking play! That would have cut my chest open, whew!"

He crouched.

"Bring it, kid!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

Marrone could sum up the situation in one word.

Bullshit.

He watched as Qrow hissed at another cut, this one bleeding like the other small ones.

He'd long since run out of bullets, most of them had, though they were thankful for Coco's minigun but weren't sure for how long that'd last.

Marrone's frown was a permanent fixture ever since that little demonic son of a bitch did that thing with a gem in his chest.

Territory Expansion, he'd called it, something the feline Faunus didn't fully comprehend but could only believe to be a bad thing.

The fight had been an on and off thing, ever since this 'Territory' had been established, the two intruders had been able to slip in and out of sight.

The fight would turn into a chase, a fight, and then another chase, before continuing the cycle.

"This is getting ridiculous," he said loud enough for all to hear, the group gasping for air with sweating falling off of them in puddles.

"Tsk!" Qrow looked around, the purple-tinted walls of the manor looking the same as always. "These bastards don't seem to get tired _at all_. What the hell are they?"

"… Clearly not human," Ochre admitted hesitantly. "That said, what kind of Semblance is this?"

Qrow's eyes moved to look behind him, seeing the tired out group and grunting. "Whatever it is, it's starting to piss me off."

"Only now? This shit's been going on for the past ten minutes, you're a saint compared to how much bullshit this is." Marrone said as he picked at his shirt and grimaced as the clothes seemed to slick off of him. "Ack! Why's it so warm in here?!"

"…" Coco shivered at the sweat near her navel and came to the conclusion that anyone like this wasn't worth chasing after. "What are we gonna do though? We're not sure if Obito got out in time, either."

"…" Qrow's frown deepened as the unbidden thought came to mind before he shook it away. "… Why is it so warm in here?" he muttered.

Last he checked, this whole thing had amazing A/C so why was it so warm?

He narrowed his eyes and stared straight ahead, the air warming his forehead causing a slight sweat.

He blinked, the blurriness causing him to rub his eyes before he stared at the end of the hallway.

'A mirage!' his eyes went wide as he backstepped to the group.

"It's a mirage," Qrow said, catching their attention. "The bastards are using the heat to cause a mirage."

"… Right, I guess I'll deal with this," Marrone said with a frown.

"Kid, what are you on about?" Qrow was confused.

What did he mean?

Marrone ruffled his own hair, his feline ears moving about before he reached to his waist and undid a clasp.

Unfurling, a furry appendage made itself known to the group.

"Two of 'em?" Qrow frowned as Marrone held out his hands.

Light stretched from his fingertips and waved about lazily as the teen glowed a reddish-orange.

"You have Aura?" Liza looked confused. "How long?"

"… Can we do this before those guys come back?" the male Faunus said as the strings elongated to every nearby wall. The rumbled like static before the sound of cracking reached all ears as the portions of wall where the strings attached themselves began freezing over.

Marrone pulled his arms together, the strings thinning before the frost and ice rapid spread, the mist pouring down the sides of the walls.

Qrow welcomed both the cool air and the appearance of a surprised looking Envy, the demon-looking bastard a couple of steps away from Qrow.

The Huntsmen grinned ferociously.

"Hi there!" he exclaimed as his foot crashed into the demon's face.

" **Sweet fuck!** " Envy scrambled away, holding his face with an enlarged claw. " **Bradley's useless ass just had to go after that little bastard!** "

Ochre's eyes went wide. "Coco!"

"Already gone!" the combat school student was already running in the opposite direction, the group now noticing all the trailing damage from the previous fights down the hallways.

"I'll stay with Qrow," Marrone said as he rescinded his strings before getting into stance toward Envy. "I'll stop any more of this guys nonsense!"

Ochre nodded. "Carmel, back up Branwen and Celeste!" the senior cop said as she ran after Coco.

"Yes, ma'am!" Liza shouted with a nod, removing a knife from the holster on her back.

Staring at his three adversaries, Envy could only say.

"Now that's just not fair."

"Sorry, we don't give a fuck," Qrow said as Harbinger turned into its scythe form.

* * *

'What is this?' Obito thought as he ducked under a large, trunk-sized, forearm of Greed.

" **Hahahaha, this is great!** " the former man now beast brought his arms up before bringing them down on the floor beneath them.

Obito grit his teeth as the floor broke, rocks uplifting and blocking his vision.

But not the noise of a shouting beast.

" **AARRRGGGGHHH!** " Obito jumped as high as he could, clearing the sweep of Greed's enlarged arms.

That creature looked with a monstrous grin, its dark blue, almost black, skin only broken up by its red pupil-less eyes and thin line tattoos of the same color.

Greed had become something other than a man over the course of their fight, each exchange brought out more of the man's monster-like physique. Like Envy, he looked like a demon.

His body had grown bigger, by a large margin, where once there was a large bulky seven foot man…

Now stood a monster that stood at over four meters tall, multiple arms with the two main ones being the biggest and touching the floor. Along his body were thin red lines that converged in on his back to forge a crest of some sort. His skin seemed smooth but was harder than any blade Obito had ever seen save for the esoteric Seven Swordsmen's and his father's.

Landing, he breathed a sigh of relief that his Aura was back in working capacity, the wound from earlier having stopped bleeding. That said, the blood loss was nothing to sneeze at.

His body felt so cold, the only thing keeping him moving was the presence of death in the form of a battle crazy monster and the fact he needed to protect Velvet.

The Faunus lay by the door to the manor, Obito had hoped for a moment to drop her in but couldn't find it when dealing with Greed and his wounds.

" **Good to see you finally in top form, though I wasn't expecting you to fend off the Dark element so easily,** " the monster said with a nod towards him.

"Dark element?" Obito frowned at the words. "What do you mean?"

" **Hmm? You don't know?** " Greed looked confused. " **You've been fending it off the moment the girl came at me… Hmph, I guess you don't know about what the world truly has to offer.** "

" **The Dark element is one of the seven,** " one of the smaller but no less large arms came up to count. " **Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Energy, with the two all-encompassing elements that reign over them.** "

" **Light and Dark.** "

Obito's mind ran through all the information he'd received, through self-study or otherwise, about magic.

"I see and I assume that more elements are made from the bases?" the creature nodded, actually giving him a cordial nod.

" **But of course, the foundation of magic is born upon such a foundation along with theory, affinity, and intent,** " Greed's body flex, the muscles growing before shrinking back to large but normal size. " **Beings like me, like us, are borne from the Dark.** "

Obito stared at Greed, actually looked at the man-made monster and shook his head.

"I'm sorry."

" **Hah!** " the beast chuckled, another sound of growing skin reached Obito as a single horn came into being upon Greed's head. " **This is the happiest I've ever been! Do not undermine my reason for living!** "

The monster was on the attack once more and Obito ran toward it in response. The younger man eyed the encroaching demon as he threw himself at the former ninja, arms trailing behind him.

The second they were to make contact, Obito jumped and grabbed one of the arms before bringing his blade down on Greed's horn.

One of the six smaller arms extended, Obito leaning back on another arm to dodge before flipping over _that_ arm and kicking off it to land behind Greed.

Skidding along the paved driveway, the beast roared at him before tossing himself once more.

Obito dashed forward before performing a split, the overhead demonic man passed easily.

Greed skid along the dirt as he landed and made to lunge once more before an explosion threw him up off the ground.

Then there was another.

And another.

And another!

Obito let out a breath as he released his hand sign, eying the smoke where Greed stood.

" **Ugh, bleh!** " the beast stood and as the wind pushed away the smoke cloud, Obito was awarded the sight of an overall untarnished Greed who shook his head.

" **Everything's ringing,** " the gargantuan creature stumbled a bit, holding his head before looking up at Obito with a squint.

Obito took in a steep breath.

* * *

" _Understand this principle my son," Kojiro gestured to the stone in front of Obito, the boy covered in bruises with a wooden sword in hand._

" _This world was made to be_ broken _," the abusive parent had his own wooden sword that was gestured toward Obito and then to the stone. "People are made up of small parts, so Faunus, so are animals, and also everything else."_

" _There are layers to the world we see and through that we can gain power beyond our possible imagination."_

 _He held the wooden blade in one hand, tapped the stone with the tip, nodded, and brought the sword up and then down._

 _It split like a watermelon, cut into four separate parts that splayed out into a cross._

" _Now, this one is yours."_

 _Obito stared at the large rock, its size that of an adult of six feet and probably just as wide in diameter._

" _Well? Hop to it! I'll be watching from the side and we won't leave here until you can cut it in half."_

* * *

This world is meant to be broken? What a twisted ideology.

Damn that detestable man for making him make use of it.

Looking at Greed straight on, Obito's Sharingan's tomoe spun.

Every inch of the beast, each curve, shape, twitch, and indentation.

He scanned it all.

His Aura raged like fire around his blade, the burning energy enveloping the weapon before sinking into it.

Obito held the blade forward, one foot forward while the other remained back, both hands on the handle pointed to the beast known as Greed.

Greed stared, eyes wide as he saw _it_.

That Feeling of Death hung around Obito, the young man's eyes calm, breaths even, and focus all on Greed himself.

His muscles bulged, the body growing another foot as his teeth gnashed and clashed together in his orgasmic glory!

" **!** " the man wasn't even coherent anymore, all lost to that pleasure.

That possibility of death!

His body was already flying, the distance between the two, something of over twenty meters, devoured in a second with his bulk.

Obito's eyes lowered to half. His body was cold but his Aura raged within before meeting that instance of calm.

A spirit fueled blade, sharpest in a single instant, a vibration that can't be felt.

" **Tsubame Otoshi.** "

* * *

Velvet's place on the floor only allowed her to see straight, doing any other movement caused her sharps stabs of pain.

So she could only watch as the cop, she wasn't sure who he was at this point, faced down that thing that man became.

She wanted to scream out and tell him to move! To dodge! Anything! But she couldn't speak, frozen on the floor and watching as blood spilled.

" **Tsubame Otoshi** ," she blinked as the monster rolled, bouncing off the earth and crashing behind Obito. Blood seemed to freeze mid-air and only when she blinked did it hit the floor and she wondered what happened.

The young brunette finally dropped his blade and fell to his knees, his head bobbing down.

* * *

He shivered, his body seemed to go from hot to cold in under a second, leaving him physically exhausted ten times over.

He allowed himself to spread out, his back on the well-cut grass, and breathed for the sake of it.

" **Hhhhhhhh,** " the stuttering breath of Greed had the reincarnated man to look at him, his view upside down.

" **Hmph,** " it was a self-satisfied grunt as he lay on the ground, blood spilling from his visible shoulder down to somewhere on his front that lay on the grass. " **An amazing thing, your technique. Utterly amazing.** "

"Hm," Obito looked over to see Velvet in the same condition as the two of them and nodded. "Unfortunately, it's not my own making. Were it not for that man I'd have to have used more drastic measures."

" **Would have loved to see that,** " the demon began to shrink, Obito being thankful that the man's clothes seemed made to expand with him and kept his decency in check. "Argh…"

Seeing the man falling silent, Obito grunted as his Aura sparked to life before fizzling out.

'No more Aura,' he thought.

He'd always make sure to NOT finish his Aura reserves, leaving at least 15% left in case of emergencies.

This whole ordeal made it abundantly clear that these people, whoever they were, might not be as combat-inept as he thought.

He grunted, the feeling of something in his pocket pressing against his thigh caught his attention.

He pulled out the tiny object, a small vial with a drop of what could only be called darkness inside of it.

'What is this?' he thought.

Bradley had been about to use this on Envy, Obito had assumed it'd been a healing item but had been proven wrong when the white demon had gotten up on his own.

So that meant that this thing was likely meant to bolster his abilities, it was the only thing he could think of at the moment. Nothing else made sense unless this was an invincibility or invisibility item… he'd hold onto it for now.

He turned towards Velvet, the Faunus's eyes blinking at him before he began his crawl over…

"I see," he froze at the gravelly voice. "To defeat Greed in such states… you two could prove more problematic than I thought. Perish the thought, I supposed."

The slide of steel from a scabbard filled his ears. "Dead men have no such potential."

The air above him _shrieked_ at him and he used dredges of his Aura to blast in another direction.

The blade sunk into the earth below with little resistance and came out just as easily. "Hmph! I guess even now that burning desire of yours to live keeps you moving… an amazing quality to be sure."

The boots of the man crushed disheveled dirt and grass underfoot as he walked over to the desperate cop. "Hold still, if you would, this will end easily if you do."

"I don't think… so," Obito glared as he said this. "I'm too stubborn to die."

This gave the older man paused, scratching his chin with his other hand before throwing Obito a jovial smile.

"Yes, you're quite right," his smirk chilled the former Uchiha. " _You_ do, your lady friend on the other hand."

"If you touch her I'll _vivisect_ you, you _puppet_!" Obito growled, catching the man's attention. "You think I didn't figure out you're artificial?"

"… You just keep digging your hole, don't you?" Bradley's eagle-like gaze peered down at Obito… as he began walking over to Velvet. "But I digress, taking care of the girl will be a small matter."

"BRADLEY!" Obito shouted, eyes shooting death in the man's direction. "IF YOU TOUCH HER-!"

"You'll _what?_ " the man turned his head to give Obito the stink eye. "Get up, do it, stop me! You keep shouting these worthless words and the only thing you can do is sit there and watch."

The old man's lips dipped even further. "All of you humans are like this, heroic last stands, frothing hate-filled words, but you can't even ensure that it goes through."

His steps were simple and efficient, standing above the Faunus girl with a frown. "Understand that the only thing keeping this girl and you alive is my walking speed."

He raised a sword.

"BRADLEY!" it came down.

A blur shot away from the weapon, the sword biting into the earth once more with Bradley letting out an irritated sigh.

"Another to add on to Envy's toll," the old man said, turning to look at Coco.

The girl glared at Bradley, Velvet in her arms. "Yeah, you guys kind of suck at this."

"Sadly, you would be correct young lady," Bradley said with his sword in hand. "But we all can rectify mistakes."

Coco felt sweat slide down her brow and it wasn't because of the heat from the manor. She turned her head slightly in Obito's direction, the down young man staring at her horror.

'Goddammit!' he cursed any god he could right then.

Coco?! It had to be _COCO?!_

He knew he accepted everything that had lead him up to this point, emotionally, but this was bringing back painful memories.

* * *

" _Hold on Kakashi!"_

* * *

He tried to get up, his body shouting at him to stop but his mind told his body to _shut the fuck up and MOVE_.

Bradley sighed, hands held out at his sides. "Young lady, no offense meant to you, but this is foolhardy at its finest."

"Only a fool won't try," she countered as she edged herself backward and to the side, aiming for Obito's position. "If you don't try, you're done right then and there, no second chances usually."

"Ah," he shot her an amused look that didn't stop her moving, in fact, she moved more obviously. "Quite a lovely platitude but a false one, all men are not created equal. That is a fact of life as we know it, some live and some die."

"Good thing I'm going to be doing a lot of living after this," she smirked at Bradley as she deposited Velvet next to the cop, nodding to Obito's struggling form. "I got way too much to do before I kick the bucket."

"…" Bradley looked unamused. "Very well, it seems we're at an impasse… So let's settle this cordially." His sword was held in front of him, a fencing stance aimed at the trio.

"Yeah," Coco said unsurely even as she tried to keep her voice even. "Hey coppy…"

"Coco, you need to leave _now_ ," he said, causing her to look at him like he was insane. "Don't take your eyes off him!"

She turned back to see Bradley still in stanc- Was he closer? She took a step back and lowered herself into a crouch.

"Take Velvet and _leave_ , Coco!" Obito said as he finally got his arms underneath him and pushed himself up onto a knee. "He's too strong for you."

"Oh and what are you about to do?" she grit her teeth as she stared forward, arguing without looking at him. "This is my job, this is what I've been training for."

"Yes, but you need to _live_ to get strong enough to fight men like him," Obito winced as he bent slightly. "You have to stall, make enough time for Qrow to get here- Now that I think about it, _how'd_ you get out?"

She blinked, confused. "I literally just ran through."

"What but- Dodge!" He shouted as he grabbed hold of both her and Velvet and pulled all of them down and back.

The presence of the rapier above him had him grit his teeth before he lashed out with his sword.

The attack was batted aside easily, the awkward angle and his weakened body made it that much more simple by Bradley's sword.

The weapon was swung down at him but blocked by the barrel of a handgun.

"Back off!" Coco's other hand swung forward, Velvet's knife in its grasp, locking onto the rapier.

Bradley pushed down on the weapons, Coco's arms lowering as he did before he disengaged the lock to swing it around at her face.

Obito's gun was already in hand, the trigger pulled, and Bradley took a step back as the bullet fended off the attack.

Obito and Coco opened fire up close, the artificial human blocking the duo's bullets all the while stepping back.

Their guns clicked empty, the two cursing in unison as Bradley approached with a stab at Coco's torso.

"Give me!" Obito tossed his gun Coco's way and she clasped it with her own before tossing both at Bradley.

He dodged to the side only for his eyes to widen as the guns glowed.

The explosion blew them away, the trio landing in heaps by the cliff edge, Coco landing in the crater Greed had made earlier with him and Velvet at the inside edges.

"Think that did it?" she asked, holding her head.

"No, so take the chance and get us out of here," he said as he lay on his side. "Come on, we gotta get some distance-"

"Kaugh, to where, may I ask?" came the voice of Bradley, the man standing at the edge of the crater.

His shirt had been torn to shreds leaving his wizened body on display that held muscle that betrayed his age. On his chest was a familiar-looking crest Obito had seen on Greed earlier, the lion on the curvy cross, along with a new assortment of scars from the explosion.

Neither was his face saved, seeing as half of it was basically a dark color save for the reddened eye. "I'd say that you're ingenuity is to be praised were it not used against me."

"Exploding guns aren't something you see every day, I thought it was desperation to cling to life like humans always do."

Coco's body creaked as she got up, rubble falling off her now torn pants and sleeves. "We're an awful lot like cockroaches."

"We don't know when to quit," she got back some energy to pick up Velvet's knife once more.

Obito sat up with a noticeable effort and peered at the artificial human named Bradley. Meager Aura ran to his eyes but the effort was for not as his doujutsu flickered to life for maybe a second or two.

That said, it was enough to get read on the man's condition. 'Coco might be able to fend him off.' He thought.

The man's left side, the one that'd taken the brunt of the explosion, was limp with no blade in sight. He was leaning slightly as well, likely compensating for the damage.

In minutes, Obito would regret what he'd said, completely ignoring the fact that these things weren't human and followed a trend.

"Coco!" she looked his way before focusing back on the artificial man. "Now may be your chance! He's compensating for his left side!"

Her eyes were wide and she grinned ferociously as she noted it to be true. "This is gonna be good."

Bradley looked down at his left arm with a shrug before bringing his weapon around to the shoulder.

Coco's stare turned from confident to horrified as a wet "Schwing" and "Schlup" accompanied a now lopped off arm.

Bradley's blood flowed freely, the miniature waterfall soaking and staining his torn sleeve before the old man tied off the stump with torn scraps from his pants leg.

"Now," he freed his blade from his mouth and set it into his right hand. "Shall we begin once more?"

The combat school student hadn't been prepared for the fake man to kick his arm at her face. She dodged it out of revulsion and screamed as the man planted his foot in her stomach.

"Coco!" Obito shouted as she bounced backwards, Bradley's form dashing towards the down teen. "Shit!"

He reached down to his hip once more, dried blood worked as a medium for him to pull out a couple of threaded shuriken.

He tossed them at Bradley, his place at the side of the crater working to his benefit as the throw did little to put Coco in danger.

The wizened man heard the projectiles and rotated to bat them away. Obito didn't allow this to stay true as he twisted his body painfully to the side to bring the throwing stars back at the older man.

The ninja wire did its job as Bradley swung once more to bat the throwing weapon aside and tugged.

Obito didn't have the strength to take the weapon away and Bradley knew this.

That said, he wasn't trying to take it.

"Fuck-!" Bradley heard too late as Coco slammed her fist into his back. "Off!"

The artificial human yelled as he hit the floor, the earth cracking beneath him though it was preceded by a loud crack as Coco hit him.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!" Coco covered mouth, gloves moving before she spat blood and spit off to the side. "Gods!"

She groaned as she stepped away from Bradley, keeping an eye on the old man, before dropping onto her bottom.

"Midoriya!" Obito heard. "Coco! What's going on?!" Ochre yelled from the manor entrance.

Coco simply waved a hand as she looked at her sister, the trio of teens stuck to the floor.

Obito's eyes never left Bradley's form as he crawled over to Coco, his form slow as he kept eye on the enemy.

He'd made it maybe a quarter of the way when things went to hell.

He should have been more aware, he'd seen two of the three do this, and this came back to bite him in the ass.

"Ku, hu….' The artificial human grunted out as Obito began to pass him by, giving the youngest of the Branwen siblings pause. "Times like these always have a back-up."

Obito couldn't get the words out before a suspiciously _familiar-looking_ vial but larger appeared in Bradley's hands that he'd swallowed.

"Get awa-!" he'd barely gotten to the word 'away' before dark light exploded from where Bradley had stood.

A vicious torrent of black miasma flowed upward, the wind blew away from it in force and Obito could only do what he could to hold on, being the one nearest to it.

"Shit!" Coco said as she jumped and grabbed hold of Velvet's body. "What the fuck is going on?!"

It was at that moment that the winds ceased blowing and the miasma spread like a deadly disease around the area.

* * *

Qrow and Marrone tag-teamed the white demon in full force, Marrone's flexible and versatile strings keeping Envy at bay more than once while Qrow fell in and out of combat, disengaging with the support of the Faunus's Semblance to hit and run.

The demon was covered in wounds, head to toe there wasn't a single spare space on him that didn't hold a laceration of some kind with few being ragged or clean.

"Heh, how's it feel to be on the other side you sonuvabitch?" Qrow taunted as he ducked under a string that nailed envy in the chest, fire blowing the demon away.

The white monster had to roll to the side to avoid Qrow's downswing but couldn't dodge the kick to the side.

Slamming against the wall, Envy's pants were ragged in both sound and motion. Least of all was Liza, the female Faunus came out from his blind spot, the demon feeling her cut across his cheek.

His claw lashed out but she was pulled away into the forest of strings by Marrone himself.

" **F… Fuckers…** " he barely finished his sentence before having to jump on the wall and away to get past Marrone's Aura strings.

Lunging at the Faunus, he was intercepted by Qrow's scythe scoring his side and sending him tumbling away with a scream.

" **ARRRGGGHHH, YOU FUCK!** " he scratched at the wound and came away with more blood.

"Die," Qrow said with a glare as he came in for the final blow.

The world went dark, the trio all stopping as black miasma seeped into the building and Envy started laughing.

The demon-like creature's laughter deepened, his form growing in size and darkening in color.

Qrow cursed and ran forward, aiming to chop off the laughing bastard's head, but found himself stopped by a single line of light attaching itself to his right shoulder.

He was tugged and pulled through the air to land near Marrone, the Faunus's eyes wide and tail bristled beyond belief.

"What's the big id-?" Qrow began but stopped when he looked at Envy's form once more.

A large white, greying now, spike flew up from the floor all the way to the ceiling.

" _Oh_ ," Qrow said, now understanding. "Ugh, my bad."

"…" Marrone's wordless nod is all he received as they focused on the now recovered Envy.

Liza swallowed.

* * *

" **Territory Expansion, Complete,** " came the voice of Bradley through the thick black mist. " **Truly, Father can come up with some rather exotic Gifts.** "

Obito could only stare as the miasma parted for a lone, _clawed_ , foot to step out, followed by a body.

Any wound, that he could remember seeing, was gone, leaving behind untouched dark grey skin. That clawed foot ran up a muscled leg that led past a just as muscled body to a now diamond-shaped helmet.

It was smooth and angular flesh that composed its frame and a blue membrane that filled in for a visor. On the back of his right forearm sat a large black orb attachment.

It was human-shaped, an anomaly among the trio who's other members were more animalistic or demonic-looking.

This thing just looked like armor.

The blue membrane broke apart, like a cracked pane of glass, revealing Bradley's face still partially scorched.

"I see," he raised his right arm but the left was barely flexing. "I was told this was connected to our bodies but I assumed it was an attachment and not a caveat."

The artificial being held his right arm out and lightning dance between the fingers before a rapier formed, obscenely long with a guard like that of a half-built oval dome.

Obito knew truly and completely that at that moment, all in the vicinity were dead men walking.

His hand curled into the dirt at his idea.

Kamui and leave the group… leave them to die and make it to Qrow and get him and Marrone out while he could.

It was simply all he could do right now, any other option was foolish and would lead him to his meaningless death.

Obito eyed Coco and Velvet, the former helping the latter onto her feet, the Faunus now back in this hopeless game.

He'd turned his Sharingan off and on throughout this fight to conserve Aura but any Aura he had now meant he could only accomplish two actions with Kamui.

He grit his teeth as Bradley finished surveying his new body and turned his attention back onto the group.

"Now boys and girls," he cracked his neck a bit and held his rapier up towards their direction.

"Have at you!" he blurred the line between speed and teleportation in that instant, appearing behind Coco without the girl even being able to react.

Obito's eyes bled as the man was now distracted.

Black swirled appeared and ripped off Bradley's arm, the sound of the action cluing in Coco and Velvet who jumped away.

"What the fuck?!" Coco yelled as she stared at the bleeding stump that was Bradley's right arm this time.

Obito's could feel his Aura failing his eyes, the Sharingan disappearing entirely from his ability.

"Hah… hah…" his blurry gaze caught Bradley's attention. "Now all you have is your feet and I can say that gives them all the chance they need."

Throughout the fight, the one know as Bradley, the artificial being, had been exerting an aura of calm despite whatever happened to him.

This moment, where he was virtually armless and against such odds, thanks to Obito, brought about a laugh the likes of which the group hadn't seen.

"Fuahahahahah," his eyes creased in joy as his armless settled in. "My boy! This is far above what I was expecting of you! To keep fighting and fighting! Young man, you've made this old man quite happy."

Obito's sneer didn't remove Bradley's joy, in fact, it seemed to enhance it.

"Taking your life will be the greatest thing I experience," Bradley said as lightning burst forth from his stump of an arm and formed into some resembling a replacement.

"Move!" Ordered Coco as she and Velvet jumped back from the man. "Seriously, _what the fuck?!_ "

Bradley wasted no time, lightning shot out and Obito yelled in agony as it struck him.

"AAAAHHHHH!" he couldn't contain his screams and the only reason it stopped was for thrown sword nearly slamming into Bradley's face.

Velvet's wide eyes turned angry. "Don't touch him!" she yelled as she held out a hand.

Aura accumulated, the energy forming into a facsimile of Bradley's rapier.

Her body shouted as the large, obscenely unbalanced, weapon fell into her hands. Electricity arced around her arms as she held the weapon… but she gripped it tighter with each jolt.

Bradley blinked, looking at his sword in her hands and found himself lacking the hand to clap.

"Perhaps there's merit in killing _all_ of you," he said casually, eying Velvet. "To fight a person at their best is all well and good but it's only worth the effort if they get back up, so bravo girl..."

"You've become a person _worth_ fighting against."

The ground exploded, Bradley's body flying towards the girls.

Velvet moved to meet him, the rapier moving in a thrust with her hands on the handle and front of the guard.

Bradley's form arched in mid-air, dodging the thrust, before that fluid-like body curved and chopped Velvet in her sides.

She screamed, lightning running up and down her body breaking the last bit of Aura she had left. The weapon fell from her hands, hitting the floor and dissipating the second it did.

Velvet fell forward and Bradley's follow up attack was foiled by a familiar-looking throwing star.

He turned to see Coco's gloved hands holding the other three and grinned as the others flew forth. He ducked it and grinned as it exploded.

'It's got Dust in it, eh?' he wasn't as surprised as last time but the explosion was still something to behold.

He waited for the normal dust to clear and chuckled as he noticed Coco carrying Velvet's body once more, heading towards the electrified Obito.

She placed down the Faunus before focusing on the cop, his still body sending her all the wrong signals and she could only breathe a sigh of relief when she put her head next to his and saw his grit teeth and twitching eyes.

She didn't know what to do, the entirety of the situation hit her all at once.

Velvet was down, Obito was down, Ochre was trapped inside the mansion, and she was injured while facing this guy alone.

She breathed out a shaky breath as she turned to Bradley, a lump filled her throat as the man stalked forward.

She swallowed, her shaking hands tightened into fists.

"Do or actually _die_ , huh?" she asked to herself but Obito heard it all.

His body twitched as he tried to get up.

No! No! No! He was not going to let her die! Not _anything_ of them!

'Get the _fuck up UCHIHA OBITO!_ ' the thought burned him, his body burned him, this entire situation burned him.

He was burning up and he could do nothing as _she_ faced her death, _once again_.

He was here this time! He was stronger! Yet, here he was _useless_.

His body protested, Aura was depleted, and everything else hurt.

But he stood _the fuck up became he damn well better_.

He was stiff, body still dealing with the aftershock of being shot with lightning but he stood, the weight of the vial in his hand prominent in his mind.

He watched Bradley come, the man's smile etched into Obito's mind.

He watched as Coco stepped in front of him, an unsure smile on her face.

"It's been really fun, huh?" she asked, her shaky voice not registering to him.

"Didn't think this s-shit would happen so early but h-hey… what can ya d-do, right?"

His body burned as she spoke, each despair filled word broke something in him.

Not _her_ , not like this again.

It ran in his head ran through the memory so many times when he was a child, nightmares that came about because of Madara and his incompetence.

* * *

 _She stared at him, he couldn't hear the words at the time only that she was impaled on his arm and he saw her mouth move._

 _He'd known it wasn't his name but it haunted all the same as if it were._

" _O-Obito?"_

* * *

The artificial man was already in front of her, Coco noticed, the guy seemed to just _appear_ there in a damn second.

She closed her eyes, grit her teeth, and prayed that her failure didn't get everyone killed.

She looked into the darkness of her eyes, wondering what it was going to feel like.

Would it be like a needle? Getting killed by lightning seemed like the kind of thing that made ya feel pain all the way through though.

There was a crack of knuckles but she couldn't really hear where.

Was that it? She heard the sound but didn't feel anything-Wait, nope, she could hear lightning near her head.

There was grunt too, what was that?

"…What are you?" came Bradley's voice and all Coco could say about it was that it sounded _way_ to quiet compared to the lightning.

Come on man, speak up!

Then she realized she was still alive and that she wasn't dead yet. So she opened a lone eye and peeked at what was going on.

She blinked as a hand reached over her shoulder and the scent of smoke filled her nose.

She turned to see a familiar and not so familiar face.

Black scalera with red eyes stared back and at Bradley, in them were no pupils but three spinning commas. Half his face was marked by a dark looking tattoo that broke into smaller segments.

'Scales,' that exact word came up immediately to her mind.

Those were scales.

His arm was covered in scales of black and ended in clawed fingers that gripped Bradley's face, lifting the man off the ground.

… Cool and honestly, the best fucking development she couldn't have imagined.

It was a hell of Semblance.

Light lit up the grabbing hand and Bradley's face became shadowed before an explosion of dark flame ripped into the armored man…

And then further.

And further… until it carved into the manor and hit the barrier before exploding. The smoke was dark in color and Coco's mouth was covered by Obito's clawed fingers.

His eyes flashed and the smoke's color changed to that of a normal gray before he let her go.

Coco Adel wasn't sure about what'd just happened.

The smoke… it'd been _different_ somehow, enough so that Obito had to stop her from breathing it in. Her body had been different about it though.

It'd rejected the very sight of it… and to an extent Obito himself after those scales covered hi-!

"Sis!" she shouted, realizing that Ochre had still been by the entran-!

"I'm fin- kaugh!" Coco heard through the smoke and as it cleared she could see Bradley framed against the stone of the home and Ochre thankfully away from the entrance and further inside.

"Thank the gods," she said but Ochre was on her feet.

"What's-Midoriya?!" she stared at Obito and Coco finally got the chance to turn around and-

"Is that a wing?" the student blinked as she tilted her head at Obito's appearance.

That was definitely a wing she saw, ya huh. That black stuff… she thinks it's in his hair too, the spikiness is a bit more pronounced and if she was being honest she thought she saw some small horns.

His shoes were gone, melted rubber and leather flat against the floor being their fate and his pants were slightly torn to reveal that the whole 'scales' thing might be a half body tattoo.

She only watched as he took a step before falling and hitting the floor face-first.

She blinked and stared at his unmoving form, the dark wings and scales began to recede before he was left with a torn top and pants.

She fell to her knees and just blinked to herself, the sting of tears finally fell down her cheeks as the barrier inside the mansion receded.

The hurried steps of her sister didn't really make it to her but when her arms wrapped around Coco, the younger Adel reciprocated and it all came out.

Ochre held the crying teen close, her top used as the napkin for loose and hot tears that kept coming and coming from her first real up-close experience with death.

She pet her, smoothing out the young girl's hair while keeping her hold on her absolute.

She never wanted something like this to happen but here she was.

While she did this, her eyes turned to Obito's downed form and eyed the wounds. Both new and old ran along his body to weave a tale Ochre could only imagine.

The most eye-catching one was his right hand.

Blackened completely all the way up the forearm, it was still smoking from the palm and twitching slightly. The flesh couldn't even be made out and she smelt the charcoal-like burns to which she grimaced.

This whole situation got more and more complicated.

The miasma around the area had disappeared around the time Bradley had hit the house and she could survey the damage.

Along with the missing body.

* * *

The trio stared as the miasma lightened up before disappearing altogether like cigarette smoke.

"Huh…" Qrow muttered as he watched it all happen, Envy stared at the group as his body began to lighten in color and shrink.

" **Fuck, fuck, fuck!** " he cursed and did the only sensible thing…

He jumped through wall after wall before leaping off the edge of the cliff.

They all stared at the holes trailing to the outside and Qrow simply put away Harbinger before walking to the entrance.

"Come on, we'll figure out what happened one way or another."

With that, they all agreed, and their pace quickened.

 _ **~NRK~**_

The ambulances' sirens filled the air, more cops coming onto the scene at Ochre's behest as back-up.

Larry had led the charge and been there in record time to find all the group in some form of distress and extra wear.

Obito being the worst of them, causing the cop's skin to ashen and eyes to sink in before he called the ambulances to hurry up.

Ochre stared along with Coco and Qrow as Obito was loaded up into the emergency vehicle and driven away with Marrone and the others.

Her little sister had been insistent on staying by her side and the thought to admonish her hadn't even cross Ochre's mind.

"… I think this is where you guys stop," Qrow stated, eyes watching the cars leave all the way up until they left his sight and even then he watched. "This is now Huntsmen territory."

"Agreed," the oldest Adel didn't even attempt to conflict with that.

Their part, and the students by proxy, in this was so far and away from this situation now.

One of her squad injured, Coco injured and in need of quick medical attention, Velvet needed respiratory attention after having her diaphragm torn and chest caved in slightly.

Qrow came away the lightest, unsurprisingly, with light scratched he says will heal with his Aura.

Liza and Marrone came out unscathed and she could only thank god that that was the case.

"Come, I'll drive us to the city," Ochre said as she gently ushered Coco to the lone police cruiser outside, the young woman not resisting in the slightest.

Qrow trailed behind with a frown plastered on his face.

'Oz I really hope you have something on this, please…'

'I can't go through this again with Obito, not like with Summer.'

 _ **~NRK~**_

He looked around, getting up off his place on the stone chair before he frowned.

"The Kamui dimension?" he thought out loud.

What was he doing here?

His eyes closed as the world came into focus and he was looking at an unfamiliar cieling.

He groaned as he came to, the idle beeping of something in the room annoying him to no end.

'Where am I?' he wondered, eyes blearily opening as he turned them every which way. '… A hospital?'

It was a plain room with a teal-colored tile floor and white walls and ceiling. His bed seemed position at the very upper left corner with a window by the foot of his bed.

How had he gotten here? Last he remembered, he was getting electrocuted-!

'Coco!' his heart rate quickened and the machine signified it with its incessant beeping. 'Where's she?'

He was worried.

Had he failed again?

That was the thought that went through his head as the door to his room opened and a head popped in.

"Ah!" she said, catching his attention. "You're awake!" she beamed at him.

"Good morning, Mr. Midoriya," she walked up to him, smiles aplenty. "You were quite the critical condition when you were wheeled in, I'm glad to see you awake."

His eyes moved to look at her and he coughed.

"Oh, let me get you some water," she walked to a table next to his bed and removed a bottle of water from underneath it. "Here we go, please be careful and blink twice quickly to tell me to stop."

He'd nodded but as soon as she began to give him water, he never asked. In seconds, the water was gone and his throat still felt warm.

Warm but at least quenched.

"Where… where are the othe-rrrs!" he grunted near the end but his message was clear.

"They're all in the family room, while Ms. Scarlatina is in the room next to yours."

He blinked as he heard that. "What of Coco Adel and her sister… are they here?"

"Yes."

He completely and utterly relaxed into his bed.

They were fine, they were safe.

He'd been there on time.

"Ms. Coco had some serious bruising but refused to be alone so we treated her in the women's restroom with all the females present."

He nodded to this and she gave him a rundown on their conditions which he was thankful for.

Though hearing about Velvet left him on a sour note.

"Now, about your injuries," she tapped the clipboard she'd taken from the end of his bed. "Quite an extensive list here, Mr. Midoriya."

She listed them off. "Frayed nerves, excessive bleeding, lacerations, blood loss, and worst of all the third degree almost fourth-degree burns on your right side."

"Hmm," he assumed that was because of the lightning from Bradley's attack.

"Quite frankly, Mr. Midoriya, I believe the only reason you're still alive is that you awakened your Aura. That large of an amount coming forth kickstarted most if not all the healing you needed to get away from critical condition."

His mind came to halt and he stared at the nurse.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh! Congratulations, erm," she flushed a bit. "I mean, thankfully, awaking your Aura saved your life. We're all thankful for that. Especially when your Semblance, from what I hear, got you out of a rather terrifying situation."

She flipped through her clipboard. "We believe, with some words from the Adel siblings, that you can control dark energy of some sort." she tilted her head.

"Your use of your Semblance, such a powerful one at that, so rapidly after just awakening your Aura we believe is what caused the backlash and burned your arm."

He stared at her.

His WHAT?!

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **I'm sorry for being away for so long and I'll make a promise to try and get two chapters out in the next three weeks. I'll grind stone this to make up for all the missed time in January.**_

 _ **See you soon.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_


	12. Pain and Comfort

_**Chapter 11 is here and, as I promised, it's within the three weeks.**_

 _ **It wasn't hard to do this chapter, seeing as it's a pretty simple chapter to write.**_

 _ **Hospital bed visits and development, easy.**_

 _ **On with the show!**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

He ran the words through his head multiple times and didn't understand.

His _Semblance_? _What was his SEMBLANCE?_

Maybe he wasn't hearing her correctly, he was currently in the hospital. His injuries had been grave and the possibility of the blood loss affecting him was high.

The nurse smiled at his wide eyes, likely thinking something so far and away from his real thoughts.

"If I may, I can announce your return to consciousness," she said while looking at him with a cautious look. "Though you can keep your status quiet for now, I understand some wouldn't like to be bothered just after they woke up after what happened to you."

He stared at her for a moment before looking at the ceiling and closing his eyes.

"Go ahead," he permitted.

"Okay! I'll be right back." With those words, she left with a small smile and a nod.

Well, time to see the others. Hopefully, nothing had happened in his absence.

 _ **~NRK~**_

They sat in the Family room, a strange thing seeing as none of them were related to Obito directly.

Coco didn't think so.

She had kind of checked back in, in her head, around the time she was getting patched up. Something about the sting of alcohol and tight bandages made ya feel alive.

Maybe she had a crazy taste for battle? She didn't know, the most she could say about people like that is they were raised in the wild.

Inosuke being the prime contender.

She was seated near Ochre, her sister had her legs crossed and stared forward. She wondered what she thought about all this. Did it bug her to hell and back?

Like it did to her? Coco didn't know but she imagined that her caring big sister wouldn't let this get to her little sister. Strong front and all that.

She was rambling in her head, huh? She decided that figuring out everyone else would be a better thing to do.

She looked at the revealed tiger Faunus, Marrone, and wondered what was his deal.

When everything had been situated, he'd sectioned off for a bit with Qrow and Ochre. Probably explaining what was going on with him.

Coco had never seen that many Faunus with two parts. If she thought hard enough, she could count about… two times?

She'd seen pictures of the Faunus, Ghira Belladona, and while being a fine specimen he was one of them. The Two-Parters, if she may be so bold.

The other time…?

The youngest Adel blinked and frowned as she tried to find the memory.

She _knew_ she'd see another before but the memories…

Why couldn't she remember?

"Excuse me?" came the voice of a nurse, causing her and the rest of the group to look up.

"Mr. Midoriya has awoken."

* * *

He should have told her to let them in one at a time.

"Damn! How _are_ you?! You look like shit!"

"Arrggghhh! KOBI!"

"It's O-BI-TO, Inosuke. Yes, I do, Liz"

"Man, I'm just glad you're alright! Fighting that Envy dude just made me imagine the worst."

"It's fine., Marrone"

"Yeah, I can't help but wonder the pace that old bastard put you through! Tsk! Wish I'd fought him instead."

"Qrow-"

"Sniff! I'm glad you're okay!"

"Liza pleas-"

"Midoriya, hmph."

"Ochre."

Hearing and having all these people in his hospital room was a jarring but nostalgic experience.

He couldn't remember the last time… No, he did.

It was just so long ago. With Minato-sensei.

With _his_ Team 7.

He sighed as the nurse finally told them all to shut up, the newly arrived Liz and Inosuke having made the group TOO loud to be ignored.

"We're glad to see you're awake," Ochre began, looking around the room. "We were worried things had become more critical while we waited."

"Thank you, all of you," he nodded to those around him. "I'm just happy that this whole thing is done and over with."

"Yeah, completely this time," Qrow spoke up, catching everyone's attention. "This is bigger than expected and so I'm taking this case out of your hands. ALL of you," he said, looking at the students.

"I and Mr. Branwen have come to the decision that this is the best course of action," Ochre pointed at the students. "For the length of time we've spent together, we've had to ask for extensions on your assignment. Quite frankly, you've all done more than enough to earn an A+."

"O-Oi!" Inosuke shouted. "We didn't even do anything!" he likely meant him and Liz.

"That's not necessarily true," Marrone said as his tail waved about. "During the first job with the bank you were able to protect that woman and child while removing them from the situation entirely unharmed. That's already pretty good for the most part."

"... And you've also made sure that you and Elizabeth stayed safe, even if it was holding the fort." Liza added, looking down. "These are all important jobs that _have_ to be upheld. Not all of life is as glamorous."

The pig mask-wearing teen flinched. "E-Eh..."

"Now, that's not to say we're done here," Qrow spoke up with a frown. "We're going to keep this whole thing up for at least a month further."

"The idea is that we'll extend your stay one more time and hopefully things stay good for that entire time. Or we find 'em, either/or really." Qrow finished with a shrug as he unclasped a flask from within his coat.

"Oh," Inosuke stared at the Huntsman for a moment. " _Hmmmm…~_ "

"Staring's not gonna change nothing, ya brat."

"… I guess now's as good a time as any," Marrone interjected.

"The floor's yours," Ochre offered to which Marrone nodded before extending his hands out.

"Uwah!" Inosuke jumped as strings of Aura shot out of Marrone's fingers. "What the hell?!"

"Uh…" Elizabeth stared for a moment before blinking. "So _both_ of ya got your Aura awakened?"

"Nah, only Obito's did," Marrone shrugged, ears twitching. "… I've had my Aura for way longer."

"… Where are you actually from, kid?' Qrow asked with a raised brow.

"Atlesian born and raised… until I was like 10," Marrone said.

"I see," Ochre nodded. "That's interesting, you've been in Vale for the other part of your life?"

"Nope, I… Me and some family moved to Menagerie by that time, hah," he sighed. "A death in the family had us make the decision."

"Marrone…" Liza trailed off but the male Faunus shrugged.

"A cousin of mine got into some gang-related stuff and that was kind of the last straw. We decided a cramped island was better than the slums, so why not? This was before the… _current_ White Fang got more sensibilities in Atlas so life there as a Faunus isn't exactly ' _great'_."

Obito's views on racism became drastically more intense when it came to Atlas. The _military_ -like city had to be one of the overall most ignorant and inefficient nations to date.

Ignoring the benefits of Faunus in your army had to be downright _stupid_ in every sense of the word. Much less, the nation itself.

"That's around when I got my Aura unlocked. Just before we left, I had it unlocked by paying some guy down there and I got my Semblance one year later when I was playing with some of the other Faunus kids."

"… I'm assuming, though, that that's not just it. While playing's all well and good, you know about multiple applications of your Semblance through combat." Qrow said to which Marrone winced. "I'm not going to say anything, that's not my place, but I can only imagine there's more to your story."

"…" Marrone frowned before sighing. "It's about my family… more specifically my sister…"

Obito and Qrow were looking on more intently.

"From what I heard, my dad's a human," Marrone said with narrowed eyes. "Worked the mines, met my mom, and the rest is history… then me and my sis were born."

"We were born Faunus and dad had literally no problem with that," Marrone grinned. "In Atlas no less! That was nice until the other Faunus decided that that wasn't exactly the cool thing."

Ochre's hand gripped her sleeve. "I see… Everyone else in the room, sans Qrow, needs to leave _now._ " Her tone brokered no argument and the teenagers found themselves filing out, leaving Marrone, Ochre, Qrow, and Obito, as the audience.

"Qrow-"

"Nah, nope," he frowned as he put away his flask. "The kid stays, there's a reason for that that I need ya to trust me on."

The senior cop stared at Qrow, actively looking this time and blinked.

"So you two ARE related," she stated, getting a cough from the older man.

"E-Excuse me?!"

"They're _what?_ " Marrone sat there with wide eyes.

"I've found it weird, how could I not? You've been awfully suspicious when it comes to Midoriya. So mindful of my junior but always so up to the plate when it comes to his involvement with any delicate matters."

"I always wondered what you were seeing that I'm not," she crossed her arms, cocked a hip, and threw Qrow a stare that reminded Obito so much of Coco.

The sass in that move alone had Qrow's mouth dropped.

"… Alright, alright, yeah," he caved. "Me and Obito here are brothers, didn't know he existed for half my life but learned more about him in the past ten years."

"… So your 'Aura awakening', was that real or not?" Ochre asked with a raised brow.

"Okay, hold on," Marrone crossed his arms. "You two are related? You're like, _forty_!"

"Hey! I'm in my thirties I'll have you know! Respect your elders!"

"Whatever you say, _old man_."

"Why you-!"

"Men! That's not important!" The lone female in the room shot them a look that shut them up before turning to the mildly amused Obito. "So what's the truth?"

"Hah… no, I've not had my Aura released before… though not from lack of trying." He grimaced near the end.

"I can take a bet it has something to do with all your scars," she followed up with narrow eyes. "What inspired such torture on a man your age?"

"Torture?" Marrone stared at her before turning to Obito. "What the hell is she talking about?"

"She's likely talking about the body report that racked up my injuries," Obito shrugged the best he could. "… Qrow shares many of the same scars."

"Yeah but I can only imagine yours are worse," the Huntsman combed a hand through his hair. "Listen, among the only thing about us that's relevant is that our dad is a colossal _dick_. He's a crazy bastard whose eyes are on his own twisted idea of fun."

"… Very well," she raised her hands in defeat. "That was all of my questions."

"… Ya know what? You do you man," Marrone sent a nod to the brothers, though he quirked a lip corner. "So, is Midoriya your name or…"

"I'm adopted, Branwen is my former name," Obito answered.

"It's better that way, honestly," Qrow added as he leaned against a wall. "Getting away from that man is for the best of all involved."

The Faunus blinked. "But you're a Huntsman."

"Yeah, I know," Qrow said, eyes darkening enough that Marrone shivered a bit.

"... I joined the White Fang," he uttered, getting back on track, getting wide eyes from those in the room. "Like 7 years ago, I got tired of all the others essentially shitting on my dad. I thought that equality would be easy, my dad was awesome, that was easy to see as a kid."

"So you joined in on the protest," Obito said, getting a nod from Marrone.

"Seemed easy enough, make a sign, go around talking to the people, real simple shit in my head. Up until I decided to be an idiot and go alone." The Faunus slid a hand down his face. "I never thought it was weird that the protesters always went in groups and not had one at like every corner."

"I got attacked," Marrone stated darkly. "Not even by humans but by my own, the Faunus."

"Damn," Qrow uttered. "That's..."

"Fucked up?" Marrone said humorlessly. "Completely, didn't stop me though. I kept going… and then we moved. Dad made up enough cash so we could move to Menagerie… _just_ us, me and sis, him and Ma stayed."

The Faunus clenched his hands. "I kept it up with the protests, sneaking on boats to go places and join up with the White Fang and then I went all the way to Vacuo. Stayed there for a year, we'd actually had some traction. I think it was just Vacuan culture, they believe in merit above all else, so racism was never actually a thing and I pushed that for as long as I could."

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming on," Ochre added.

"You'd be right, around that time things were good _but_ then the White Fang got… serious."

"Of course, most of it centered on the Schnee corporation at first. They were the biggest contenders and, being perfectly honest, I was glad at the time… Until I found myself roped up in it." Marrone was silent after that.

"Long story short, I wanted out and no one, especially one of the commanders, was too keen on that. I had an in with the leader and they let me go. I got booed all the way to Vale, it frustrated me to hell and back and all I wanted was to get back at them."

"So that's the reason I wanted to be a cop. White Fang kind of hate 'em and what better way to get back at them than to become the thing they hate?"

"That's a dangerous game you're playing though," Ochre said with a frown. "Besides, are there any White Fang bases in Vale?"

"I don't think so?" Marrone said nervously. "Last I checked, ever since the White Fang went mean they've been working out of Menagerie. No idea of where they might be now."

"We'll keep an eye out then," Ochre said. "If that's all, I think we should leave it there. No reason to make the others more anxious than they most likely are."

"She's got a point," Qrow stated as he got off the wall and made to leave. "See ya later Obi, might bring a surprise next time. And Marrone? You did the right thing, getting involved with the White Fang now will just lead ya down a road you might not come back from."

The two watched them leave before Marrone spoke up. "So… what do you honestly think of me?"

"No less," Obito shrugged. "Life has a way of making us choose the wrong choice before getting on the correct path, Marrone. We've all had such things happen to us at least once."

"You too?" Marrone asked.

"Especially me."

"Hmm… thanks," the Faunus grinned as he nodded. "I wasn't expecting you guys to be so… accepting of me."

"We know you for what you are now, Marrone. With change comes a lot of things, responsibility being one of them. Don't forget that."

"You're right, hm. There's still so much that I want to say and do with the White Fang but I'm just one person."

"Time changes people, I know this to be true. Maybe even the leader of the White Fang will change, you never know."

"Maybe..." Marrone shrugged before he sighed.

With that exchange, Marrone let in the flood of younger members of their group.

"Yo!" Inosuke clambered up to his bed first and balanced off the end of it. "We're gonna train ya!"

"... Eh?" Obito stared at the wild boy with confusion. "Come again?"

"You can thank your Lord Inosuke, kahahahaha!"

Obito's look of complete confusion clued the others in that Inosuke sucked at explaining things.

"What he means is that if ya want, we can give ya tips on Aura," Liz explained, crossing her arms. "Having Aura ain't no small thing, everything is so different with it. Especially since you got way more than most people."

"Yeah, if 'way more' meant putting us all to shame _combined_ ," Coco chimed in with a flat look. "I've never ever seen someone with that much Aura! It's unfair! And let's not get started on his Semblance!"

The group agreed that Obito's Aura levels was something to be regarded as ridiculous.

"We thought that you'd want to get this under control, Aura makes you superhuman, man! You're gonna have to learn to keep it on at all times."

"Any workout you got going on is gonna have to increase by a lot."

"You're faster now, too!"

"Arg! Stronger too! Fight me!" Inosuke said as he pushed his face in front of Obito's before being pulled back by Liz and put into a headlock.

"Calm down ya bastard!"

Watching from the side, Marrone and Liza blinked at the antics with the male Faunus holding his chin in his hand.

"They're not wrong, ya know? With Aura your whole life changes, though it's not really obvious," he said as he caught Obito's nod.

"... Mom's always working with Huntsmen and Huntresses, says that they're so different just because they have it." Liza said scratching her head. "They're dangerous too, though. Being around too many can attract Grimm, I've heard, and let's not discount the actual people themselves."

The students all blinked at the dog Faunus with Liz piping up. "What do ya mean? This is the first I've heard of this."

"This is something Mr. Branwen told us at the Academy, it's why not everyone has Aura in the first place."

"Hah?" the blond human blinked. "Ya know, I never thought about it before but it does make sense."

"That aside, we wanted to help ya out and realized this is the best way," Coco said with a grin. "We're gonna make your officer drills look like warm-ups when we're done."

Obito blinked at the idea before realizing that this might be the best out he was going to have.

"Very well," he made a show of giving in with reluctance. "We'll see how good you all are as teachers."

"Sick!"

* * *

He was thankful for most of them being gone, he could think in peace without a chorus thundering speech in his ears.

Coco sat by his bedside, mindlessly going through a magazine.

She'd told the others she was going to stay for a bit after they'd gone through the plan they had for him at the end of the week.

It was strange to see her be so mindlessly silent and he wondered if the events of yesterday affected her more than he thought.

For another couple of minutes, they continued their paired silence before he broke it first.

"Coco?" he asked, the young teen stopping all the flipping of the pages and stilled completely. "What's wrong, Coco?"

"… Nothing… Just thinking," she responded and Obito had to blink away the image of a sad-looking Rin to see the young girl looking down at the floor.

"… This seems rather unlike you," he continued. "If this is about yesterday…"

He saw her shoulders come in in a flinch and didn't really feel surprised.

That was likely her first run-in with the possibility of death and at such a young age… he wanted to think that last bit but it felt hollow.

She should have known that things weren't going to be so bright and sunny like the fantasies of Huntsman's life.

You were going to be fighting beasts of malice for what amounted to the rest of your days for however long that lasted. Always on call, always having the chance of encountering Grimm.

Bigger and stronger Grimm that might very well be her end.

She should be aware of all of this but it took yesterday to finally break her rose-tinted dream job.

Being a Huntsman was life-altering work.

"I can't seem to get it out of my head," she dropped the magazine on the side table before leaning forward and pressing her forehead into her tented hands. "I keep trying and trying and trying to NOT think about that bastard but…"

"You can't," he finished, getting a nod from his fellow brunette. "You keep remembering details, smells, flashes of actions, anything involved at that moment, right?"

She stared at him before nodding. "Y-Yeah… you too?"

He stared at her for a few moments before looking up at the ceiling. "This isn't even the first time for me."

"What?" she stared at him in disbelief. "You've gone through… _this_ before?"

"I was born and raised for half my life outside of the kingdoms, the chances are significantly higher when you're out there. I was borne without a mother, she died at my birth I've heard and was raised essentially as an orphan by my… estranged family."

"Oh…" she blinked before gripping her hands together. "… is it going to always be like this?"

"Of course, for the most part," he shrugged. "It feels so off-putting, yes? You feel like every part of you is on edge and that something's about to go wrong the second you let up."

"Yeah! I feel like that guy, _someone_ , is going to jump out at me… I hate this."

"That's fine, it's your first battle with it," he said which gained a confused look from Coco.

"With _what_?" she asked and turned her head away the moment he locked eyes with her. Those obsidian pools revealing truth to her. A single word that sent her stomach into a crazed whirlpool of burning acid.

"Death, Coco. The death that surrounds us every day with the Grimm around," he turned back to the ceiling. "You and Velvet are going to be changed from this experience, Velvet maybe more so."

"Oh shit," she'd forgotten Velvet.

Crap.

"Would I be right to say you've never thought about this?" he asked to which she nodded with some hesitation. "This is the wake-up call, Coco. This is where you can make a decision…"

"Do you still want to be a Huntress after what happened? Does this break your will enough that you don't want to deal with it again?"

Her eyes were wide as he spoke before she swallowed. "T-That's…" She didn't know.

To be thrown in the deep end like this was… _jarring_. She felt like she skipped so many steps on this map and ended up in Mantle when she was on her way to Mistral.

Where was she in this roadmap of life?

"Take your time, Coco, this isn't something that needs to be answered to anyone but yourself," Obito said softly.

He'd had to face such decisions at an even younger age, during an actual war, this was so much more kind of a situation to suffer a fate like this in.

There was no right answer here, there were always going to be people who will come up and go through the proper steps of being Huntsmen/huntress and take each experience as build-up towards the answer.

Coco simply got, if his terminology was correct, power leveled in her 'Huntress Life' stat without the requirements to make the level.

Would this break her, though? Coco was very headstrong but she doubted herself constantly, at least mentally. This was a decision that would change the direction of her life.

"I…" she began but stopped to sigh and ran her hands through her hair. "I'll think on it."

"That's fine," he said. "Remember Coco, there's nothing wrong with what you choose. It's YOUR life and no one else's."

She looked at him as he said this before getting up.

"Yeah, thanks, Obi."

 _ **~NRK~**_

She walked out of the hospital, mind trapped in thought over what Obito had said.

'My life,' Coco thought as she looked out to see Ochre standing outside her cruiser, the headlights illuminating the darkness of night.

Seeing her, Ochre raised a brow before tilting her head to the car and moving to the driver's seat.

Getting and strapping into the vehicle, they took off, the street lamps flashing in their eyes the whole way home.

"…" Ochre looked at Coco out of the corner of her eye, watching the girl rest her face on her hand as she looked outside.

She wasn't surprised since what happened was likely a mind-opening experience to the life Coco would lead should she continue to want to be a Huntress.

"Ya know," the younger Adel began. "Obi said a lot to me, no declarations of eternal love but a lot of deep stuff."

"That's not surprising," Ochre shrugged. "Midoriya always strikes me as someone older than he lets on. He's wise beyond his years and has the maturity to match my own, it can be startling at times but a welcome thing in my line of work."

"Huh," Coco eyed Ochre. "Is there some-"

"Coco, _no_."

"Gotcha," her little sister nodded and gave up the topic. "… Sis, what makes you keep being a cop?"

"Hmm?" Ochre blinked. "Thinking about why you want to be a Huntress? Was it something Obito said?"

"Yeah, he said that this is something he'd dealt with before… something that changes you and you can make a decision to keep going or do something else."

Ochre's mouth set in a straight line, figuring whatever Obito had told Coco it pertained to his scars. "Sounds about right, encountering death like that… it makes you feel so much older than any second before. You look at life differently."

"… I don't really like that," Coco shook her head. "Obi said just about the same thing, that it makes or breaks you. I don't want to break but every time I think about life ahead I worry about shit like this happening again."

"… I can imagine what you went through," Ochre said gently. "When it was just us back in the day, Coco… those were _hard_ days. Days where I made sure you ate and I didn't give a damn on _how_."

"… Sis, I really hope you didn't do anything that I'm gonna hate myself for," Coco looked horrified.

"No," she assuaged her fears with a shake of the head. "The nights where I didn't come home, I worried. The nights where it was cold as hell, I worried. The days when I was sick, I was worried to hell and back."

"Because I had to take care of you, I wanted you to grow up carefree and not worry about a single thing," she finished with a sigh as they stopped at a traffic light. "Understand Coco, life-changing events happen in some of the worst ways but we have to keep going."

"No one's going to for us and we all have something dear to us."

Coco blinked and turned away to wipe a tear. "Love ya sis."

"And I, you, don't ever forget that. I'd never have done everything I have if I didn't."

Coco hummed as she closed her eyes and looked out the window.

 _ **~NRK~**_

There was a draft.

The sliding of his window alerting his now faux sleeping form to another body being in the room.

There was a hiss of breath and the thump of something against the wall… did he smell blood?

He didn't open his eyes as the rustle of cloth and seemingly feathers greeted his ears, closer with each breath before he could feel a presence standing over him.

"… I'm sorry," he heard but kept quiet. "I… If something had happened to you…"

There was the smell of flame and ozone as he kept the ruse up. Iron mixed with the scent of frost rolled into a strange image.

Like a battlefield in snowfall, blood coloring a white field of crushed snow.

There was a closer presence of something near his head. It hesitated for a moment before brushing his off-color fringe to the side.

"I guess you still get one, huh?" she spoke and the finger fell away with a clink of plates. Gauntlets.

Red gauntlets with feathered ends that would match a red and black half kimono + skirt combo. There'd be a bandana, of course, that covered a head of long ruffled black hair that accompanied red eyes.

He knew those calloused fingers anywhere but what was she doing here?

'… Raven.'

"I guess this would be the worst shape you've seen me in, hah," she said with a low chuckle before she had a small intake of breath. "A cop, huh?"

He could hear her mess with the clipboard at the side of the bed, looking it over.

There was the tightening of leather.

"Thought there'd be less danger for you in Vale. Anywhere then back at the tribe but I guess Qrow's luck rubs off on both of us."

The flipping of paper constant until it stopped and the item was placed back to its home.

"Hahh~ Try to stay out of trouble… _please_ ," he could feel the pleading in that last word, the most emotional he's ever heard Raven be.

"I'm so much stronger… and I still can't protect anything…" he heard before there was a flap of something and was alone once more.

He opened his eyes before turning them to the open windows, the flap of the curtains signaling the departure of Raven, his older sister.

He looked to the side and saw a small jar, white in color.

He breathed through his nose.

Everyone seemed to worry about being too late, it seemed.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He blinked as the nurse rolled in a familiar face, the rabbit ears on top of her head turning in his direction.

His voice lowered slightly. "Velvet."

"… good morning Mr. Midoriya," her voice was small and her gaze listed away from his as she was settled next to him.

They were outside, away from the other patients and staff, with a nurse nearby watching over him. Velvet's nurse nodded to him to which he reciprocated and the two were left alone.

So there they sat, in wheelchairs, staring out at the morning sun.

"… How are you doing, Velvet?" he asked, shocking the girl. "I heard about your injuries and I'm sorry."

"What?" she stared at him in horror. "No, no, no! You didn't do anything wrong!"

"… If I had been stronger… if I was so much _stronger_ ," she started off before falling to whisper. "We wouldn't even be in this mess."

"Velvet, you can't think like that," Obito said in a firm tone. "You can't expect to be as strong as those men were, they were levels above most everyone there sans Qrow."

"… And you," she said, looking up at Obito's blank expression. "I heard everything… About Marrone and about you."

"I see," Obito stared at her before nodding. "That's the story I'm running with."

"Why? Why did you lie…? Obito," he blinked at her using his first name but thought nothing of it.

She'd more than earned that right, regardless of if it was a right in the first place.

"I don't want that kind of attention, Velvet," he said while lowering his eyelids. "Things need to be this way, I'm more surprised you don't recognize me."

She blinked. "I don't understand."

"Understandable, I didn't even recognize you at first originally either," Obito said. "Does the 'Margery Town Kidnapping' mean anything to you?"

Her eyebrows shot into her hairline as her mouth dropped. "Y-You were there?"

"Yes… I was the one who went after you all," he nodded to her question, getting her breath to hitch. "You were trying to hold onto your brother, yes, the small rabbit Faunus with the mechanical toy train."

She just looked at him and started to see the resemblance between him and that boy from back then. "It's you…"

"Yes."

"… I looked all over for you," she started, lips trembling. "I always looked but never found you."

"I left sometime after that, a family was moving through and I was… unofficially adopted thereafter." Mrs. Midoriya had been so stubborn about that, about him not living a life like this.

* * *

" _You deserve better," she'd smiled at him in a way he didn't understand. "You are worth so much more than you give yourself credit."_

* * *

It was one of the few moments where he found himself speechless in his younger years and had been a turning factor in how he got adopted.

"I-It's because of you that I wanted to be a Huntress," his wide eyes caused her to giggle a little. "I've always been weak. As a Faunus child, I got picked on a lot before that day happened."

Velvet clasped her hands together. "And then, Valor got kidnapped," she said as she tightened her fists. "The strings of kidnappings made us worried and we thought to hide out but it didn't work."

"I-I chased after and when I got too close, they caught me too." Obito raised a brow at the blushing Velvet. "Then all that stuff happened and you disappeared but… I _wanted to be like you_. To face the odds and come out winning."

"To have courage, to be brave. I thought being a Huntress would change that and I would meet you again."

The cop stared at her, the young girl gaining a new perspective in his eyes.

"But… I failed," she looked down as she said this. "I was one of the worst in my class, I still got picked on, and I couldn't even stand up for myself."

"That doesn't seem to be what happened two days ago," he said, causing the rabbit Faunus to flinch.

"I couldn't save you!" she held her head and curled in slightly before wincing. "Before I knew about you and how strong you truly were, I _failed_ to protect you."

"Velvet, the fact that we're alive right now is all thanks to you," he watched her quivering form for a moment. "Had you not enticed Greed into a fight, had you not gotten up against Bradley, had you just ran, we wouldn't be here right now."

She looked at him from within the cages that were her arms with disbelief.

"I've not had the highest opinion of you Velvet, let us be honest about that. I couldn't imagine you being of help to us up until two days ago." He said with a shrug. "You were too gentle, too easily startled, too _fragile_."

"Then you proved me wrong," he said with a look at her that had her gaze moving downward, red on her face. "You were put up to bat and you swung. You faced your opponent with the understanding of him being stronger than you and you _kept going_."

She looked at him with wide eyes, her chest feeling tight and her eyes watering.

"You have just as much of a, if not more, right to be here. To be brave, to be strong." the wind picked up, throwing the two's hair to the side in the bright horizon.

"You have every right to be a Huntress, Velvet."

He relaxed as he watched her cry. This little rabbit couldn't run, not from this.

From this pride, she felt.

 _ **~NRK~**_

The next day had him visited by a familiar trio.

"Sup, Red-Eye," said Melanie as she raised a hand in greeting.

"Melanie, Miltia, Junior," Obito nodded to them all, the twins finding seats at the end of his bed while Junior took the seat near it. "Long time no see."

"You're telling us, haven't heard from ya in a while and next thing we know you're in the hospital," the white sweatshirt and shorts clad twin said with a raised brow. "What in the world are you getting yourself into?"

"She's right you know," Miltia said, her clothes a red variant of Melanie's, as she closed the windows and blinds. "If you're in here, there must have been someone who could do this to you."

"Hmph, there wasn't exactly anything on the news about you guys being in a gunfight so I'm gonna assume it has to do with an assignment away from the city proper," Hei said, folding his hands in his lap as his black pants and dress shirt creased.

"… The IronSights might be more trouble than we thought," Obito said after some contemplation, catching them off guard. "We faced what I assume were some of their members and they're stronger than I was expecting."

"Whoa, so they did this to you?" Melanie stared at him, mouth agape. "Dude! You kick our asses all the time and you're telling me they're better than _you_?!"

"Not me specifically," Obito said with the shake of his head. "I've trained you two to the most that can be had in the past few years, you're likely beyond second-year students at Beacon."

"But these men… while one of them was easy to dispatch, either of you could have done so with little problem, the other two were of different breeds. They became literal demons, at least as close as you can imagine. Their abilities became more powerful as well as their physical combat prowess."

"How bad we talking?" Miltia asked while messing with a blind. "You make these guys out to be stronger than Huntsmen… They're not, are they?"

Obito ran through most of what he knew and gained over the length of his battle with Greed and Bradley.

"From what I understand, they're above Beacon students but I'd say that there are some about the group who are that strong. I fought one like that and he was stronger than what I believe most Huntsmen are."

"Shit," Junior rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Is there any way to hire you on as a full-time trainer? You get benefits."

"Yeah, seeing us every day can be a great benefit!" Melanie added with a grin as Miltia rolled her eyes.

"I'm not sure if that's safe right now," Obito shrugged. "From what I understand, they're on the lookout for us now, I believe. If they connect me with you, which they don't seem to have yet, then this is the time for you to either bolster your numbers or get better men."

There was the crack of glass and the sound of the clack of boots on tile. "Well, that's going to be the hardest thing you'll ever find downtown."

Roman Torchwick looked annoyed as his sidekick Neo clutched onto his coat, watching the room with nervous eyes.

"If you have any better ideas, I'm all ears," Junior said as he shot the thief an unamused look.

Roman returned the gaze easily. "Well, unless you know more disgraced Huntsmen then you're out of luck." The redhead made to light a cigar and grimaced as Neo looked him in the eyes with that quivering look of hers.

The stress lines around his eyes made more sense now.

"Have you thought about hiring some personal detail?" the master thief asked as he crossed his arms. "You know, some riff-raff from elsewhere? Namely, Mistral."

"…" the leader of the Red Axe Gang thought it over as Melanie opened a water bottle at Obito's bedside. "You know? That might be a good idea but that's going to be a while. Never know what kind of crazy could want into Vale."

"Regardless," Obito made his presence known once more. "There needs to be an overhaul on the type of security you have."

"Uh-huh, we'll wo-"

"Obito!" The door swung open and the sound of glass cracking was all Obito needed to hear to stay relaxed as Tanjirou entered the room with a confused but worried look.

The younger teen looked around at Junior and then at Obito with the twins in his bed with red rising to his cheeks.

"Um," he mumbled but was cut off as he was pushed forward by an irate Inosuke.

"I'M HERE!" the shirtless boy shouted, causing those not in the know of his quirks to blink at him.

"You're surrounded by weirdos, aren't you?" Melanie asked with a smirk.

"With you among the worst of them," Obito responded.

"Hah!" Miltia laughed.

"Okay, how many times do I- what the hell is going on here?" came the voice of Liz as she looked inside and narrowed her gaze in on the twins. "Do I need to know the story or…"

"Hm!" came the muffled grunt of a familiar-looking young girl with long brown hair that ended in bright orange tips.

"Nezuko?" Obito was surprised-

"WAHHHH!" The scream of a familiar-looking blond-haired boy reached his ears. "Scum of the earth! Enemy of women! You bastard!" Came the shaking with rage Zenitsu.

And finally, trailing behind, was that strange girl, Kanao. She looked inside, looked at him, looked at his position, and simply never came in.

There was a lot of miscommunication in such a small action.

* * *

"Ah! I'm glad you're alright!" Tanjirou's smile brightened the room as he relaxed, Obito having given the group a short summary on what happened. His actions within being stripped of any actual involvement besides him pulling Qrow aside and getting injured.

"Grrr," Zenitsu glared at him and Obito couldn't fathom why. "So here you are, _well taken care of_ after being injured in the line of duty."

"I'd say so," Obito responded with a shrug. Melanie's grin was the cattiest it'd ever been while Miltia flushed a bit.

"Tsk!"

"Uh-huh," Elizabeth's raised brow had Melanie's wiggling. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he's not even aware."

"Don't defend him!"

"Yeah, yeah," Liz waved Zenitsu off.

"Sadly no dice, this tree has yet to be shaken," Melanie said with a shrug, causing Obito to shoot her a look.

"Hmph!" the girl with a mask over her lower face, Nezuko, looked Obito's arm over with a narrow eye. "Mmmmm."

"It's fine Nezuko, a few burns that are going away nice and quickly."

"Un."

"So you awakened your Aura?" Tanjirou's eyes did their best to only focus on Obito as his shaky smile fought the lie. "I guess this makes things more complicated, huh?"

"Yes, with my Aura awakening I'm supposed to get some help with learning from the others at the end of the week," Obito said with a straight face that nearly had Tanjirou choke.

Nezuko blinked before tilting her head in confusion.

"Oh?" Melanie's face contorted into a merciless grin. "Hehe, hehehehe," she giggled madly to herself.

"You just _awakened your Aura_ , huh?" her grin was more akin to a shark than a young girl's. "Guess we'll be making time to help with these training sessions of yours."

"… Yup," Miltia agreed with a stone-like expression. "You'll need all sorts of training to handle your large Aura. We'll have to test and see how durable you are."

"Strenuous exercise." Melanie grinned wider.

"New experimental ways to stretch your ability." Miltia's eyes were half-lidded.

" **Yes, training sounds like a good idea,** " came the dual response from the twins.

Obito reconsidered how he was going to go about the 'training session' at the end of the week.

A latent genius was a good narrative to use.

"You two have Aura?" Tanjirou asked, more relaxed when moving away from Obito's Aura 'awakening'. "I'm surprised."

"Oh, we work as bouncers for a club downtown," Mitlia added with the twirl of her hand. "All sorts of types come and go there. Better to have two Aura-powered hotties to deal with all the heat."

"Yeah, Obito here," Melanie pointed to the posted-up brunette, the young man looking more and more annoyed as the conversation continued. "Used to work there with us, handled all the normal cleaning stuff. Real good with his hands from what I've seen."

Obito ignored her wiggling eyebrows as Zenitsu's enraged expression grew in intensity.

"Huh?" Liz looked at the former ninja with glint in her eye. "And, say, how good do you have to be at this job?"

"You lookin'?" Melanie asked with a raised brow.

Obito ignored them talking shop over him and turned his head to Nezuko who was holding and looking at his arm in wonder. Inosuke had joined her and was, surprising for him, gently prodding the bandages.

"I'm glad," Tanjirou said quietly, Obito being the one to catch his words. "You're still surrounding yourself with others."

His small smile had Obito relax into his pillows with closed eyes.

Obito wasn't sure.

Stuff like this just happened, he didn't try to make this happen.

The image of a spiky blond appeared in his mind, a small lonely boy changed into a young man surrounded by all sorts of comrades and those large beasts.

Obito wasn't like that at all.

 _ **~NRK~**_

It seemed that today's visitor was his own blood once more except he came in the daylight.

He was out on the grass once more and Qrow walked over with a small child?

She looked at him with wide silver eyes that were framed on a pale canvas of a face with her dark hair with red tips brushing the sides of her head.

Qrow grinned at him with a bag in hand and took a seat, the little girl sitting on Qrow's right with Obito on his left.

"Qrow?" the injured man raised a brow. "Who's this?" Obito stared at the young girl who ducked behind Qrow's side before peeking out at him.

"Heh," Qrow smirked. "This is my niece."

Obito stared at her, eyes blinking repeatedly.

"What?"

"Yeah… do you know?" Qrow raised a brow. "About Raven? How she got married before?"

" _She_ got married?" Obito frowned as he looked at the Huntsman. "This isn't some joke, is it?"

"Hah, I guess she doesn't talk about it," Qrow looked disappointed before holding his chin and closing his eyes. "No, I guess it's for the better actually. No traces from the outside."

Obito thought about it for a second before coming to the realization of what he meant.

"Ah," he muttered. "That sounds more likely."

"Yeah."

The two sat there in melancholy as a breeze pushed their hair to the side.

"Um…" there was a small voice that made to interrupt and Obito turned his head in the direction of the small girl. "H-hi!" she said with red cheeks.

"… Good morning," Obito responded lightly.

"Ruby," Qrow's smile returned. "This is a cop that I met a bit back, we went on a little case together."

"Whoa!" she looked at him with wide sparkly eyes and a grin. "That's so cool!" she gasped.

"You have a gun, right?!" she squealed with hands on her face.

"…" Obito's dumbfounded stare was too much and Qrow laughed at it.

"Yeah, _that's_ the face I was expecting, hoo," the oldest of the three wiped a tear away. "Ruby here is obsessed with guns. She wants to be a Huntress when she grows up."

"Yeah!" she raised her hands into the air. "Huntsmen and Huntresses are so _cool!_ And they all have super weapons! Uncle Qrow's got a Scythe-Shotgun-blade one! You saw it, right?! It's so cool!"

"Qrow this small child won't stop talking," Obito said as he stared at the speedy talker of a girl as Qrow stuffed his face into his hands, shaking with laughter.

"I heard police have standard-issue guns, all of them can shoot .36 Caliber or .357 Magnum, 4-inch and 2-inch revolvers. I've never seen them up close, though!"

".38 rounds and those are usually the types I use," Obito corrected, catching her attention before she bounced with bright eyes.

"Oooh!"

"Learning how to handle Ruby is an art," Qrow interrupted Ruby's little gun squeal. "But on to something else, how ya doin'?"

"Hmm, I'm fine. I've met more than a couple of the others in the past couple of days, talked with Velvet, Tanjirou came by," Obito said as he ticked off the list of people who'd visited him.

"The forehead kid?" Qrow asked to which Obito nodded. "Damn, it's been a while since I've seen him. How's he holding up?"

"He's fine, the sword I made for him is holding u-"

"EEEEE! You know how to make WEAPONS?!" Ruby's eyes of enthusiasm turned to admiration as she stared at the Uchiha who froze.

He'd forgotten about her.

"… You see, me and Qrow go back a bit, I learned how to make a sword as part of a… course in high school." Obito deflected but found his deflection futile as Ruby rounded on him and leaned on his wheelchair arm.

"Uncle Qrow taught you, too?!"

"… yes," Obito said, getting Qrow to look at him funny. "The course was one of those once in a couple years kind that started showing up more and more. We traveled for a bit to see different forges and Qrow here was at one and advised me on my work."

The Huntsman smirked as Ruby turned on him. "Yeah, Obito here's a real good blacksmith, even better than I am."

Obito cursed every god above as Ruby's eyes seemed to burst out her sockets at him.

Qrow you bastard.

 _ **~NRK~**_

On the fourth day, Obito found himself in the presence of his fellow squadmates.

The Faunus of Team 7 sat around the room, Liza by his bedside while Marrone in the one by the window.

The entire room seemed to rearrange every day at this point that the nurses gave up on putting things back.

"So, how are you?" Liza began the conversation like that, the dog Faunus looking at him in worry.

"I'm fine, really," Obito answered. "What about you two? With everything that's happened, I can see you're both tense even now."

Marrone blinked, openly playing with his Aura threads in front of the two, before shrugging.

"Ochre decided it'd be for the best we not tell the rest of the department about us," the male Faunus pointed to himself and then Obito. "Says that the fact we have Aura could complicate matters at the office."

"… I think I can make a couple of guesses," Liza said as she looked down at her hands. "With two people with Aura, the office will go out of their way to keep us as far away from other groups of them. Along with that, you two might be considered 'more durable' and sent on more dangerous stunts."

"Oh," Marrone blinked at her. "I hadn't thought of it like that. I thought they'd all be scared of us but that makes more sense."

"I can't imagine how they'd react if they knew I was also getting trained as well," Obito added. "I can't say I disagree with Ochre's idea, it's more sound if nothing else."

"Tell me about it but don't cause I've had this whole plan pounded into my head at least three times by Ochre."

"I'm not surprised though I have to ask, have you made the station aware to your dual assets," Obito asked.

"There are many 'dual assets' on my person-"

"Stop being a pervert!" said the red-faced Liza.

"Okay, okay," Marrone held his hands up in defeat. "And… not yet? I haven't gone back to the department, Ochre gave us leave for this week, boss granted. So no one knows."

They fell into silence after that, Obito closing his eyes, Marrone closing his eyes…

And Liza looking down and fidgeting with her fingers.

'Should I…' she thought as she looked at the two of them, worry on her face. 'I don't think that they'll think any differently about me if I did…'

She'd been thinking about it, since the incident and everything being finalized when it came to Obito and his Aura situation.

"…" she mulled over the idea further before gathering the courage. "Guys…"

Eyes were opened and now on her. "I'm thinking of taking some extensive weapon classes."

They stared at her with wide eyes, Obito's eyelids falling halfway.

"I mean, with Obito getting his training I'm assuming you'll be there Marrone," she stated and the male Faunus nodded with a frown.

"I mean, yeah, but I'm not going to just stop doing our work," he shook his head. "There's more than enough people to teach him, I still have to work for a living."

"But not all the time," she stressed. "You're both stronger than me, from before and now even further, I don't want to be dead weight."

" _Oh,_ " Marrone uttered as he rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't think of it like that."

"But will you be able to keep it up?" Obito asked. "To do both will require more of your time to study, practice, and also work as well. Can you handle it?"

She grimaced before nodding. "I don't exactly have a lot of friends in Vale so my free time is more of my own and my mom is usually on all kinds of digs so I'm used to handling the house."

"I can sacrifice some time to get better. It's not a matter of 'if' but 'when' and I'm not about to wait until _when_ I'm not pulling my weight."

"We don't think any less of you, you know," Marrone said simply. "You're still here, we're still Team 7 and nothing will change that."

Obito blinked and looked at himself, the young him who believed in comrades among all else. He could see Minato-sensei nodding to himself as young Obito said this with Rin grinning and little Bakashi acting like the runt he was.

Obito smiled. "He's right, we are _Team 7_ and don't forget that."

She grinned for them.

"Thanks guys, for everything!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

On the fifth day, he found he didn't need to use a wheelchair any more thanks to his Aura said the nurse.

He was happy not to be cramped up in a seat anymore.

Velvet had long since been released, thankfully, and wasn't here anymore. Likely returning to school with the others.

He was sat up in bed, looking at his Scroll as Liza texted both him and Marrone about her getting accepted for Session Training.

He was alone for today, it seemed, on this Thursday afternoon and decided to do some self-reflection.

This incident made him realize he couldn't wait anymore. Not knowing a thing about magic was biting him in the ass and he needed to rectify this.

He thought back to the two letters, **Isaz** and **Pertho**.

The first one had Ice element properties but was that all there was to it?

Greed's words came to mind: Intent, Affinity, and Theory.

Were Affinity and the number of times one could use a spell connected as he'd assumed?

Obito cross-referenced what he personally found out and what Greed said.

Affinity he'd figured was what Orichalcum was looking for.

Intent? He assumed the intent of the spell or technique. To create life, Obito had to assume meant to have such intent and spells react differently…?

The reincarnated man frowned as he ran the meaning of **Isaz** around in his head.

He hesitated before raising his hand to the air.

 **Isaz** could mean 'Ice' or the letter 'I'.

Did the meanings have the effect of intent?

"… **Isaz** ," he uttered and blinked as there was a shift in the air in front of his palm and then a floating 'I' appeared.

He blinked at it but there it was, just floating in front of him.

He pulled his hand towards himself, the letter following and stared at it.

It was a glowing black color, he assumed it took the color of his Aura as Dalia's was different, and he could feel a small cold temperature from it.

His mind ran haywire with this new information.

Was there any meaning to this having a solid form?

What happened what one formed sentences? Was it an aria, like with Aura? Did making a simple sentence cause a reaction from his soul?

These questions and more fettered about his mind and he brought forth his other hand.

" **Pertho**."

All the other times, this one had done nothing, and now he could see it.

It was an angular 'C' with little extensions at the tips that went in opposite directions. While it was the same black color as **Isaz** something was… something was different.

When he felt out **Isaz** he could feel the chill, the letter still containing the cold he had associated it with.

But **Pertho** was… It was _different_. It exuded a 'mysterious' power.

* * *

 _The nurse came in with a smile and a visitor._

 _The blackened shape was indistinguishable._

 _Dalia. Her eyes blazed red as she stared at the letters in his hands._

* * *

Obito's eyes were wide as he extinguished the letters on accident.

The door rustled and Obito stared at it for a moment before it opened and in came a nurse.

Along with a visitor.

A familiar form with silver hair.

Dalia. Her red eyes looked at him and she smiled.

"Good afternoon," she was dressed in a sweater and pants combo that went down into a pair of heels. "With everything that happened, I figure it only right that I visit you."

The nurse nodded to him and bowed out of the room, leaving the teacher and officer alone to speak.

"Ms. Silverfish?" Obito stared at her with a frown. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Apologies, I felt that this was necessary, what with everything that happened and your hospitalization."

"It's fine, your students performed admirably regardless of the situation and fought to the best of their ability."

"Be that as it may… sometimes I feel as if this is my duty. I've been their teacher for all of combat school and I can't help but feel some responsibility for their actions."

She bowed to him, those extensions in her hair pointed out at him.

He nodded. "As I said, they fought well, the opposition they faced was simply overly strong." He said and paid attention.

Her wince, the way she looked away from him told him that there might have been more than a couple of people in the organization that didn't fully agree to Orichalcum's peaceful intentions.

Those artificial humans, those homunculi, were of a different breed. Created by one of their own.

He assumed she was filled in by one of the others so she _had_ to be aware it was her group.

The way she turned from him and tucked back her hair made it all the more obvious.

"R-Right," she stammered. "Yes, you're right… but I can't help but feel like I should be able to do something."

Obito shrugged. "Things simply got out of our control, you couldn't have planned for this." He meant it both ways.

There were always dissenters in a group, Orochimaru came to mind. The snake-like man was simply in Akatsuki for his own gain. Chances were he'd have tried to take a jinchuuriki host the first shot he got.

And seeing as Deidara was in this group, Obito could only imagine that he wasn't seeking peace or freedom of magic for anybody but himself and his self-proclaimed art.

"Perhaps you're right," she said with a sigh before smiling at him. "Sometimes, even when out on the field with all one's plans set… things don't work out."

She finished off with a soft tone and Obito could tell there was a story there.

Perhaps that's why she wore her hair like horns. Acting like a Faunus.

 **Pertho - Unknown, P, Unmanifest Future**

 **Isaz - Ice, I, Stasis, Stillness**

Obito blinked as _something_ made sense.

The question was _why_.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Friday came and went without worry with the brunette receiving no visitors to interrupt his thoughts.

Sure, he got texts from Coco and the others about classes and the like but he'd call those updates if nothing else.

He froze as the world turned to gray, the room's colors fading into murky ones and the only thing standing out being the figure clambering through the window.

It was a hulking person, their size beating out many of the others by height and width but Obito was sure that latter was more muscle than any form of fat.

He could only see forward, Obito noted frustratingly, and watched that disguised person sigh before taking something out of their cloak.

It was… was that healing salve?

He could only catch it out of the corner of his eye as a large furred hand moved over and applied some of the cream to his right arm.

"…" Obito felt like something was said as the figure finished and replaced the jar.

They were out the window before the world returned to normal.

Obito had already turned to his right arm when he blinked and saw clear and healthy skin.

… had whoever that was, actually just come here to heal his arm?

What?

 _ **~NRK~**_

He was in the back of the large van and shut the door, in seconds as the world returned to normal.

"It's done," his gruff voice told the person in the driver's seat. "Yah really had me go and do that? Couldn't ya have gotten someone else to do it?"

"No," Dalia said with a sigh and grimace. "I don't know who it was but whoever it is was from our sector. Someone from Vale did this and I could only trust you, Mr. Mercenary."

"That so," said the tigerman who sat and stared at the locked doors of the van. "And that's why you asked me for the healing stuff?"

"I can't move when I do _that,_ you know," she pouted. "Holding that spell is difficult… and _someone_ else used it." She snarled as they pulled past a guard checkpoint.

Her eyes glowed and the man who opened the back of the van looked around inside before shrugging.

"You're good to go ma'am."

"Thank you," Dalia responded.

They continued in silence, the mercenary felt the car dip and swerve around before it stopped.

He heard her get out and took that as his cue to do the same.

Coming out of the back of the van, he rubbed his neck and looked at the frowning Dalia, the sound of waves pushing and pulling alerted him to their location.

"A manor on a cliff?" the beastman said in confusion. "How cliché can ya get? What the hell happened to it?"

The front of the place looked wrecked beyond belief and that was being nice. Looked like a tribe of Goliaths ran through and nearly knocked the cliff edge off.

The manor itself was barely better, cracks and the like ran up and down the front along with a large tarp thrown over the side of it that sunk in.

"A lot, actually," she said as she donned her cloak, the gold skeletal frame on the back jumping from the cloth before hitting the floor.

A kneeling skeleton looked up at her and Mercenary could fight the goosebumps that ran up and down his spine.

"Why are all ya like that? Can't ya just poof it into existence, sounds more magic like than ya creepy skin jumpers."

He frowned at her giggle. "It sounds like the leader of the Mistral branch does it often."

"Too often," he said as they made their way to the manor, a set of stairs forming out of the side of the cliff at Dalia's raised hands. "I think she does it to get back at me, can't be too sure with that witch."

"Witch, hm?" Dalia hummed. "Sorceress, witch, magus, mage, all sorts of terms that will start being thrown around soon enough. Hm, hm, I guess we should get used to it."

He raised a brow at her. "Ya'll are just weird, all I want is to go back ta normal and yall are trying to turn the world crazy."

"In case you haven't noticed, Mr. Mercenary, the world is already crazy," she replied as they walked. "Humanity is backed into a corner by beings created from _nothing_ and somehow that's supposed to be normal."

"Didn't yall say that unknown magic exists?"

"Yes, in a different plane of existence. That's where we draw a third of our power from, the Other World." She shrugged. "The world itself has a mirror we believe, an inverse Remnant if you will, that's where the Grimm are coming from. From what I understand, we channel our magic through our Skeletons and they are used as mediums for our casting the power from that world."

"Yeah, they mix the three energies and all that mess," he grumbled.

"Exactly, it's why the idea of Grimm are confusing," she said. "Where is the medium for such beings? What's the formula for a Grimm? Why do they respond to negativity? Is it purely the Dark element or is there another at play? Quite frankly, as a scholar and a teacher, the Grimm are an infuriating enigma."

"But ya'll have made headway," he says with a grunt. "Dead animals, who'd of thought it?"

"The _souls_ of dead animals," she corrected. "Somehow the souls of animals are being used as a medium. That is why, for how much they look like animals, the Grimm have no living function. They do not breathe, eat, or pass waste, they just fade away. They don't really attack what is basically the fuel for the spell."

"Like humans to Dust, right? Ugh!" the beastman shivered. "I never wanna be near Dust ever again."

"Be that as it may, Dust still holds some mysteries we need to solve to push our plans forward."

The two stopped at the side of the cliff below the manor, Dalia's hands touched the earthen wall and a door was made.

"After you," she gestured to the construct.

"… Gods I'm too old for this."

"You're barely in your thirties."

"Don't sass me, woman."

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **That marks this chapter as finished, I think.**_

 _ **Among all else, this chapter was some of the easiest to write but came with information for characters and world-building moving forward.**_

 _ **Ideally, the next chapter should be done like this one next week but I can't make those sorts of promises anymore so I'll just say:**_

 _ **See ya in the next one!**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	13. Ch12

_**With this chapter, we see how Obito manages with his new teenage trainers and- can we actually talk about something real quick?**_

 _ **Listen, I'm real gung ho about this, I have a feeling a couple of you are so I'm not alone but I have to ask.**_

 _ **How does everyone feel about the idea of me adding a magic system to this? We knew RWBY**_ **had** _ **one and I do think that bringing it forth would add a lot to the setting but I question if the audience DOESN'T like this.**_

 _ **That one review about crossovers doesn't bother me but I do wonder about people's feel on this aspect of the story.**_

 _ **I have tons of ideas for this story that have to do with the magic element BUT… after looking some of them over, it's not impossible to translate the ideas into Aura ideas. Actually fleshing out the concept of using your soul as a weapon instead of adding another magic system is something that, in my opinion, RWBY as a whole NEEDS.**_

 _ **It'd certainly be easier and, after looking over a good amount of what I've written, less confusing.**_

 _ **Orichalcum could easily be what they are still but with them looking for certain Aura users with Semblances that they need… it's a fun thought.**_

 _ **We'll see after some thought, might even come up with a few more ideas, Who knows?**_

 _ **Just seeing what people think about this.**_

 _ **Usually, when I write a story of a more adventurous nature, This Changeling Life, yes people I haven't forgotten, I add an aspect to the setting.**_

 _ **The Thief of Applefree - The idea that in the MLP setting, there's a discord-like race that Naruto was apart of.**_

 _ **Tempered Equality - Obito establishes a village that can have all races uses uniform magic**_

 _ **This Changeling Life - the idea that there are more Changeling Queens, Chrysalis was part of a brood with an all-powerful mom who gave birth to five little queens that mastered a portion if transforming.**_

 _ **This story adds back the magic element that RWBY's said to have, none of these new additions would be entirely out of the realm of possibility either.**_

 _ **I know people loved the other stuff on Fimfic but Dark Silver is different. At least, FF isn't as comment friendly as most others. E.G. AO3, FimFic.**_

 _ **I know I've written fun stories that people like, I love Naruto and many other series like many others. People WANT more Obito fics, which I have tons of ideas for, no problem.**_

 _ **BUT I need your input, that's what pushes allows me to fix mistakes and make a better story. Any aspects of the setting that bother you, bring it up, no point in ignoring something with an easy problem.**_

 _ **Like that one reviewer from before, I made sure things are clear in the chapter and in the summary. This ain't crossover in the sense of animes fully crossing over, their stand-ins. People already have a hard time keeping track of the few OCs I DO have and I made a bio sheet for it.**_

 _ **Understand, I'm here and I'm listening. Whatever the grievance, whatever the complaint, let me know. That's what you, reviewers, help with, you make stories in this site better.**_

 _ **Also, Ch13 is already written but I left it at work so... Oops?**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

On the final day of his stay here at the hospital, Obito found himself with an entourage of people in the waiting room.

With a bandage around his right arm as the only piece of evidence that he'd even been in the hospital, Obito walked forward with a grey, sleeveless, well-fitting shirt and some black jeans with white socks and sneakers.

All Coco's order he'd heard, she'd even gotten him a pair of gloves, though they looked exactly like hers.

So coming out with his torn-up uniform underarm, he was crowded before he even reached the entrance.

"Okay, let's not crowded him, he's actually able to walk now," Qrow saved him from the group of teenagers, a grinning Marrone and a happy Liza. "Good to see you back on your feet."

"Indeed," said Ochre as she walked into the waiting room. "Though I guess that won't last long if your to-be trainers can devise an actual training regimen."

" **DO WE**!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

There were few places in the Kingdoms where people with Aura could practice without worry.

The Vale Aegis Center was one such place, inspired by one of the legends of Remnant, True Shield Bask.

The place was large and stadium-esque, with large floating Dust crystals that maintained the arena. While made for Aura-users, it also doubled as a bomb shelter, bunker, and so on, so people could gather here in case of emergency.

The entirety of it was made up of various blues and some white while the front of it bore a shield with a cross on it. On the inside was similar décor, with more white than blue.

"So how do we start, oh right," Coco said while punching a fist into her palm. "You're two friends gonna show up, or…?"

"Already here!" came the approaching group of seven teens, Tanjirou's group and the twins, with Melanie waving them down with a shout. "We're all here to help our neighborhood cop get in shape."

The teens were in either shorts and shirts or sweatpants and muscle shirts. The boys dominating the sweats and the girls vice-versa.

Though, of course, Coco decided to buck their little group norm and wore a tighter version of what Obito wore with shorts instead of pants.

The twins wore their usual sweats as they grinned at Obito.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen," Coco began as she put her hands on her hips. "We need to make sure our friend, Obi, is welcomed into the world of Aura nice and easy."

"Let's run him into the dirt!" Melanie said with a fierce grin.

"We could… maybe start him easy?" Velvet offered with a nervous look. "Do some exercises?"

"Good idea, Velvet!" Coco tossed the Faunus a thumbs up. "Alright, let's work with Obi on some laps. Inosuke! Zenitsu! Kanao! Front and center! You're running with him!"

The trio came forward with Inosuke woo-ing all the while and Zenitsu's mouth settling into a mischievous grin.

Obito raised an eye at the choices before coming forward and the four teens got on a large track, few other people were on it along with large bleachers with cheering strangers.

"Hey, Mars!" Coco said, catching Marrone's attention. "What were the police standards?"

"Huh?" he ran the question through his head. "Do two miles in under 15 minutes, give or take!"

"Eh?" Melanie and Miltia looked at each other before huddling together.

"That bastard had us doing police drills!?"

"I'm pretty sure he pushed us harder," Miltia responded, the twins looking up at the four teens getting ready to run. "You think he'll fake it till he makes it? Or play the genius card?"

"…Fuck." Melanie said.

"Hmm," Coco thought it over. "Let's see how fast you guys can do two miles!"

"WOOOOO!" Inosuke yelled as he jumped into the air with joy. "YARGH!"

"Of course I'm next to him, hah…" Zenitsu slumped before glaring in Obito's direction, the adopted teen stretching his legs out. "And _him_."

"Ready! Set!" Coco called, getting the trio into running position. "Go!"

They took off, the quartet shooting out the proverbial gates with flames at their feet.

Obito went with the assumption that him having his Academy feats empowered by Aura would be a passable result. It only made sense.

He was the best of the best in the Academy, so Aura would only work with that, no?

* * *

"Huh?" Coco muttered as she watched the results. "Was Obi always that fast?"

"Maybe not before but he is now," Marrone said as he stepped up next to her. "Even in the police academy, Obito was the best of the best. In _everything_. He had the top physical scores as well as mental ones."

"Even with you there?"

"I'm trying to keep a low profile though I'd say, without Aura, he's more than a match for me."

"Really?" the combat school student asked as she blinked. "So he's got smarts, muscles, _and_ looks? Damn."

"You really don't make it subtle, huh?"

* * *

Obito's eyes narrowed as he kept pace with Kanao, Zenitsu being ahead of the two by several paces, and Inosuke laughing like a madman in front of the blond boy.

"AHAHAHA!" His form was feral, all fours and leaping to and fro before switching it up and running on two feet. "I'm so cool! I'm so cool!"

"Oi! Shut up!" the lightning-themed boy shouted. "Grr! This is your fault!"

Obito shot the younger male a raised brow. "How?"

"GAHH! That's the problem!"

"I don't understand," Obito responded cooly.

He knew full well that this was 'his fault' but Obito didn't exactly choose Zenitsu himself, that's Coco.

The sole girl running with the trio of boys had a simple smile plastered on her face, looking at nothing.

Obito wondered how many other characters there was at a single combat school, much less ALL of them.

They passed the four-lap mark a minute ago, the quartet already three minutes in.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!" Zenitsu blew harshly as he kept in front of Obito. "How are you still here?!"

"Maybe if you stop talking you'll save oxygen," Obito responded, not even sweating, Kanao in the same state.

Inosuke didn't look to be stopping any time soon, his grunts were patterned and he looked more than happy even with the mask hiding his face.

With the sixth lap, Zenitsu's eyes burned with sweat as they kept running.

"Alright!" Coco called her gun in hand. "Use any means necessary to reach the finish line!"

Obito noticed how that put the other three into a brighter mood, Zenitsu especially who turned back and shot Obito a bright, relaxed smile.

Before he breathed in sharply and disappeared in a flash of electricity.

Obito's eyes narrowed as streaks of lightning moved ahead of Inosuke.

"Arg! Oh YEAH!"

The teen changed back to his four-leg running and his Aura, light gray in color, coalescence around him into the form of a running boar.

His muscles bulged before he blurred ahead, the streaking of lightning that was Zenitsu still ahead but only by each arc of electricity, Inosuke holding close just from straight running.

He didn't need to check to know Kanao disappeared from his side, her presence long since disappearing into the floor and appearing in front of the lightning streaks. Each of her own 'hole bounces' barely keeping up with Inosuke.

Obito pushed, converting the distance between the three and him from half the field to a quarter before they finished.

Passing the line, looking little worse for wear, Coco tossed him a grin.

"Next!"

* * *

Marrone and he kept pushing, their bodies lifting off the floor repeated before coming back down.

"And… STOP!" Coco called, getting the two brunettes to jump to their feet and stand up. "90 from Obi, 75 from Piggy, 67 from Tanjirou, and 72 from Mars, real nice! 60 seconds is a really good idea, should throw that into my own workout. "

Obito rolled his neck, not really sore, as Marrone stretched his back. Inosuke hopped to his feet and stretched him into a ball as Tanjirou tapped his back.

"Yeah, well, push-ups still suck even when you're in shape," Marrone said with a groan at a particular 'crack'. "That's the spot."

"Hmm?" the Adel rubbed her chin as she looked at her Scroll, Obito's times and limits written down for her to see. "Wonder what we should do next?"

"Perhaps, Aura control?" Tanjirou spoke up, he and the rest were stretching out, the ginger-haired boy nervously pushing down on Miltia's back as the girl stretched. "Hmm, he did just get his-whoa!"

"Watch it there, Burns," Miltia smirked at the flustered boy who's hands slipped a bit. "Might get the wrong idea."

"Sorry!" the red-faced Tanjirou exclaimed with a bow that had the red twin cackling.

"That's a good idea, guess you're up!"

"Ah! Of course!" The teen quickly ran away from the smirking girl. "I guess we can do this how I learned it."

Obito almost smirked at that.

The way _he'd_ taught Tanjirou, that is.

 _ **~NRK~**_

They sat cross-legged, the two held a wooden sword in their laps as they faced the others all doing different things in the training space sans Coco who sat next to Obito.

"I guess we should go through the motions," Tanjirou said. "Aura is the natural force of the soul that we bring to the surface to shield us. It is our sword that fights back the darkness and the energy for our techniques."

"That's one way of looking at it," Coco said. "Never heard it that way, who'd taught you again?"

"Um!" Tanjirou stumbled. "An older Huntsmen that visited our village, a-anyway, you should feel for your Aura and try to 'push' it to the surface."

Obito's face was stone, feigning himself doing the practice for the first time in front of Coco.

He'd never really continued to use that old mantra he'd told Tanjirou when he trained him.

Focus on the feel and run with the closest element you can think of. Aura didn't like to be bent into an element but, through arduous training, Obito learned that Aura still had the 'concept' of elements in its flow.

He cupped his hands in his lap, lowered his head, and focused on his Aura.

That flame in his mind flickered and crackled… and he frowned.

In the past, it was always a normal-looking flame, orange, yellow, and the usual colors. The past, not his time on Remnant, the Elemental Nations had an easier method in Chakra paper for this.

So why, whenever he looked at his Aura, did that color seem blacker? He… he couldn't look at it any differently, it was a burning blue flame with a black outer edge that flared out.

He hesitated as he thought over the previous events.

Was this that inner power? The thing they thought was his Semblance? Wasn't his 'Semblance' this black flame? What did this mean?

His eyes narrowed, an icy determined glare on his face as he raised his metaphorical hand to it. He only allowed himself to push it _slightly_ and brought himself back to the real world.

He glowed black, his Aura flowing up his body in a flame-like manner that startled Coco.

"Okay… That's kind of cool. Can mine do that?" the young woman said, causing Tanjirou to smile.

Obito opened his eyes during Tanjirou's explanation. "It's always been like that when that older Huntsman showed up. Try imagining your Aura, does it _feel_ like an element? Water maybe? You strike me as someone with a fluid personality."

"Hmm," She closed her eyes and grunted in concentration for a few seconds before sighing. "Not really, feels sorta… flashy like usual, just turn on and go!"

"Perhaps, oh!" Tanjirou turned his head in Obito's direction and smiled. "You did it, of course. How does it feel?"

"Hmm, like a cold flame," Obito answered and frowned at the words as Tanjirou did the same. "It felt _different_."

"… Maybe trying to deal with his Semblance will provide further results? What _is_ it anyway?" Tanjirou said, the question having two meanings. Both of which he had no answers to.

"The nurse said it was an Energy-type," Obito offered, getting a confused look from Tanjirou.

"Try and bring it out, I guess," Tanjirou said. "Usually, with mine, it's all like 'Boom, boom!' and I breathe in "swish!"

Both Coco and Obito looked at the teen with raised eyebrows. "Yeah… maybe having someone else explain this would be better."

"So the only guys here who might know what you're on about are…" Coco closed an eye in thought as she rubbed her chin. "Kanao might, I don't think Zenitsu can, Tanjirou can't _obviously_ , don't know about your twin girlfriends…"

"They're not, stop it, please."

"Right, right, anyway, unless that Nezuko girl can do something," she looked at Tanjirou who hesitated.

"Nezuko does have her Aura unlocked but she doesn't want to fight," the kind boy said. "But she can make flames come out of her hands. She _might_ have an idea but she's mute, so…"

"That'll be hard to explain, hmm. Might need Kanao then," Coco finished with a shrug as Velvet walked over with a towel over her shoulders. The trio nodded to her as she came to a stop behind Coco.

"What about you, Coco? Velvet?" Tanjirou turned to both with a questioning look. "I don't fully understand your Semblances, though."

"I mean, for me it's sort of simple," Coco began. "I can make Dust more powerful, that's it. I pour my Aura into it and 'poof' supercharged."

Obito's eyes narrowed at that.

'So that's why she wanted my gun,' he thought as he remembered her calling to him for it. The explosion made more sense now.

The small amount of Dust in their guns shouldn't have been strong enough to make such an explosion. Pouring Aura into empty Dust Crystals though, at the same time, shouldn't garner such a reaction either.

"M-My Semblance is different," Velvet scuffed the matted floor a bit. "I use my Aura to recreate weapons and things I see b-but! It takes too much Aura and I can't really use it a lot in a fight."

"Be that as it may you may have more experience with this than I do, I'd appreciate the help," Obito said with a bow.

"W-Whoa!" Velvet shook her head. "Don't do that please!"

"Oh?" Coco's eyes went from Obito to the flustered Velvet. "Something happened that I'm unaware of? Thought you two were on rough terms."

"… A bit but we worked it out," Obito admitted with shrug, much to Coco's utter shock.

"W-wha-? Tell me!" she said. "I'm, like, your female best friend, ya gotta tell me these things!"

Obito raised a brow in her direction and stopped himself from flinching at the overlaid image of Rin chastising him about not telling her about his wound.

Why was dealing with Coco so difficult?

* * *

He stood in front of the others in another room.

This was apparently the Soul Chamber, a coined term by one Professor Jura from Atlas, which managed and watched your Aura levels. This was, apparently, technology that was in most combat schools and all of the major academies.

It seemed like a small college classroom with cameras, of some sort, all around that focused on the stage. The others were seated in the bleacher-like seats, looking at the screens around them.

"All's ready to go children!" came the operator of said device, a lanky fellow with a large visor over his face. "I never get tired of watching Semblances and Aura at work!"

"Alright," Melanie clapped her hands together. "Let's try something simple, bring your Aura out."

Obito nodded as he brought forth his Aura, the black color not unfamiliar to the girl in front of him.

"The others, Coco and Velvet, tell me that you can do this black energy thing. Let's try to bring that out. Kanny! You're up!"

Kanao blinked at the name before she figured Melanie meant her. She, along with Velvet and the mute child, Nezuko.

"Come on, let's see what you can do!" Coco yelled from the bottom of the bleachers, her grin directed at him, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Now, what kind of advice do ya got?" Melanie said as she looked at the two.

Kanao stepped forward and stared at Obito, who stared back at her.

They stared.

He stared.

She stared.

Melanie looked between them before facepalming.

Great, two strong silent types, just what they needed.

Kanao hands moved quickly, retrieving her Scroll and typing like a madwoman before showing it to Obito.

 _Do you remember the feel of it? Does thinking about it bring up any particular memories?_

He stared at the words before closing his eyes and crossing his arms.

So he should remember the moment it happened?

* * *

 _The darkness extended from the blades._

* * *

 _Get the fuck up and MOVE UCHIHA OBITO!_

* * *

 _He wouldn't fail AGAIN! Not like this!_

* * *

 _He could barely open his eyes, the color of the floor was familiar to him._

 _He didn't know where he was, was he in the Kamui dimension? The stone beneath his feet seemed familiar._

" _ **I will serve you, always, my master."**_

 _Pertho floated in front of him but two other letters accompanied it. He knew he couldn't use his Sharingan right now, it wasn't possible._

 _So how could he read these letters?_

 _One looked like an 'N' with the middle line raised from the top and bottom down and up a bit, respectively._

 _ **Hagalaz,**_ _H, Destruction,_ _ **Wrath of Nature**_ _, Tempering_

 _The second was like Pertho but without the extra edges, a simply angular 'C' that was an actual angle._

 _ **Kenaz**_ _, K, Vision, Passion, Love,_ _ **Vital fire of life, harnessed power, fire of transformation and regeneration**_

 _They floated together, Pertho floated between the two and the three pulsed. The wave coming off of them brimming with flames as Hagalaz and Kenaz glowed brighter._

 _Then Pertho swallowed the light and the flames burned dark._

" _ **Revel in Dark and wield your HpK (Havoc)."**_

* * *

He whispered. " **Havoc.** "

Obito's eyes snapped open as his hand burned with an unfamiliar but familiar dark flame.

"Whoa!" Melanie blinked as she stared at his hand. "Okay! This is progress, definitely progress…" she shot him a confused look that he returned with a shake of the head.

He didn't understand any of this much more than she did.

"Hmph!" Came the grunt of young Nezuko as she came forward and examined his 'Semblance'. Her mouth was covered by her mask but her eyes said everything needed to be said.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she moved around it before bringing forth her own hand and a flame appeared.

Hers was the normal color if not a little on the red side and, next to his, looked like a light in the dark-

Wait, he thought as he looked down at his own flames. The area around it… was it _darker_?

The younger Kamado held her hands around his and lit a flame in both before bringing them closer to the dark flame.

Both Obito and Nezuko blinked as his dark flame seemed to _eat_ hers, the fire in her hands dimmed in light the closer they got before growing smaller and smaller.

Hers died and she looked on in alarm as she shook her hands but nothing came from them. Moving her hands away from his, her flames came to life and she looked back and forth repeatedly.

"Okay," Melanie said as she brought her hands together. "So Obito flames beat Nezuko flames? I'm not sure what that means in this case, though."

"Um, Nezuko's flames can typically burn wood easily," Tanjirou offered. "We typically have to do it normally since her fire just destroys the charcoal or wood."

"So his flames are stronger than blowing up trees?" Melanie asked before cupping her chin and looking at Obito more intensely. "Anything else? Something else you can remember doing?"

"W-What about a weapon?" Velvet asked with a raised hand, stuttering slightly. "I thought it could form things… kind of like mine."

"Hmm, well Obi?" Melanie turned to the frowning Obito. "Got anything for that?"

Obito mentally wondered if not being able to would make them wonder where the weapon went before trying to form one anyway, if only because he was also curious.

The flame in his hand flickered and his eyes narrowed as the flame let off sparks before elongating slowly.

It reached the appropriate length of his nodachi but that's all it had so he tried to focus on the details.

It took the shape of a sword and then more details such as the handle, guard, and blade formed before he could push it further.

The handle was plain, the guard was simply a circle, and the blade was in the shape of one with no real edge to it.

He gave it a couple of test swings, each slash letting off a wisp of Aura behind it, before he allowed it to disappear entirely.

"Alright, anything e-"

Of course, not all the audience could be satisfied with this slow display. Inosuke trembled in his seat, the pig mask wobbling at random intervals before he jumped from his seat.

"ARRGGGGGHHHH! Just fight me already!" he leaped down the steps before pointing at Obito, the older male mindlessly letting the black blade appear between his hands as he shot Inosuke a flat look.

That look aside, he looked up in thought before nodding, the dark weapon in his hands dissipating into black wisps.

"That might be for the best," Obito agreed, getting a startled squawk from the younger boy before he began pumping his arms up and down.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" he yelled, getting a nervous sweatdrop from the others.

Marrone came down and looked at Inosuke before turning his gaze to Obito. "You sure about this? You're good bu- okay, now that I said it out loud I'm just gonna stop." The male Faunus shrugged.

"You do you, man."

 _ **~NRK~**_

They stood in the arena, the Aura Center had several of these, each varying in size. From what Obito knew, the largest was half the size of the Vytal Festival arena. An amazing piece of tech, all things considered.

Terrain control, rising platforms, moving gun equipment for self-practice, it had it all.

And here he stood, several meters away from the crouching Inosuke who couldn't be happier.

"As the referee for this match, I won't condone any maiming, attacking below the waist, nor attack after Auras are in the red," Marrone said, standing on a platform raised above the two in the arena. "Hear that?! All the tricks you have in your sleeves are available to use! Just no killing each other!"

Obito thought over how he wanted to approach this situation.

He'd long since known this was going to happen sooner or later when training sessions became a thing. It wasn't even hard to guess who'd be his first and, if he kept it up, continuous opponent was going to be. Secondly, Inosuke seemed to be more in tune with his instincts.

Those instincts told the mask-wearer that Obito was strong and Obito commended his intuition. That said, he was sure of one thing.

He had to lose this fight, he shouldn't be able to beat Inosuke, not like this. The first day of cuffing him wouldn't work when the boy was on alert, this Obito knew to be true.

"Ready? Set! Go!

So when Inosuke rushed him at Marrone's barely finished "Go", Obito knew that he had to at least give the kid a fight before throwing it.

The cop took a step back and brought his arms up in a cross block as Inosuke smashed into his guard with his head.

The wild boy's feet hit the floor and shot out a series of sharp punches that Obito barely blocked to the side.

The black 'scales' ran up the cop's face as he hopped over a sweeping leg but barely brought up his guard to Inosuke's follow up punch.

He returned to the floor on unsteady legs, arms blown away from Inosuke's punch, and wide open for the pig mask wearer to go for a full-body tackle.

The contortion of the catty beast child allowed him to circle Obito's upper body before he tried to bring him down.

He stopped circling, Obito's arm and shirt in his grasp, before he flipped Obito over towards the ground.

Inosuke's purchase on his clothes came off, the older male using a hand to stabilize himself into a flip that righted his flight.

Inosuke snorted through the mask. "GOOD! GOOD! KUAHAHAHAHA! MORE!" the teen lunged at the cop once more.

* * *

"He's holding up well," Liz said as her eyes moved back and forth with Obito's dodges along with Inosuke's tackles. "But Piggy's got so much flexibility that Obito's gonna get overtaken."

Even throughout the entirety of the fight, Obito never got the edge on Inosuke. The younger man simply was too slippery of an opponent and that was without his Semblance.

Of course, that didn't stop her from being surprised when Obito slammed Inosuke into the ground in an over the shoulder throw.

"Seems more like Red Eye's got more fight to him than that," Miltia said, causing Liz to nod before she frowned.

Red Eye?

* * *

"Kuhahahaha!" the downed boy laughed before he flipped backward from his position on the ground before crouching.

"Awesome!" he shot forward, Obito held himself in a simple boxer's stance to receive him.

Inosuke started with a cross-kick at Obito's legs, which the cop hopped back over, before swinging them out at Obito's head.

He bent back and was caught off guard as Inosuke hooked his foot to one of Obito's and pulled.

The little time he spent in the air came to an end when Inosuke's lower half wrapped around his waist and threw him with that astounding flexibility of his.

He hit the floor into a roll and turned to face the oncoming Inosuke.

His Aura came to life, the dark glow outlining the cop, as he ran at the teen.

This was it, he was going to give Inosuke one more clash before falling to one of his tricks.

That's why he skid to a halt as Inosuke stopped altogether and stared at him.

"Hmph!" the teen crossed his arms and turned away from Obito. "I'm bored." With his piece said he walked off.

Obito blinked, showing as much surprised as all the others in the arena's bleachers.

* * *

"H-Hold up!" Zenitsu stammered. "That's not Inosuke! He'd never give up like that! WHO ARE YOU?!"

While not as dramatic, the others' line of thinking followed the same trend.

Why would the wild teen give up a fight like that?

Coco blinked and stared at the walking away Inosuke and had no words.

'What the hell?' her glasses slid down her nose. ' _Why_?'

The wild child never gave up the chance to fight, not even once, and yet here he was… Giving up on Obito.

She turned her eyes from Inosuke to Obito and wondered…

* * *

 _The sword appeared out from the right of peripheral, knocking the rapier to the side, ever so slightly, that her falling gave her enough space to NOT get_ stabbed _._

* * *

 _She saw the throwing weapons fly towards that Bradley guy's back, the amputee turning around to swipe them out of the air with his blade._

* * *

 _She looked back, past the arm, to the cop behind her. The black scales that ran up his side creating a frame that boxed in his blank eyes._

 _His eyes…_

 _What were they?_

* * *

She gripped her knees as she watched Marrone confusingly announce the end of the spar.

What was Obito that Inosuke would give up like that?

Was it because he was too strong?

Or because he wouldn't show them how strong he actually was?

 _ **~NRK~**_

He was back with Tanjirou, the two of them alone this time around as Coco decided to actually do some training while they were here.

So there they sat, cross-legged with their hands in their laps.

"I'm assuming you were going to lose on purpose," Tanjirou said as he looked at Obito's impassive expression. "I think that's why Inosuke gave up, he knows you're not going to give it your all and didn't care."

"He does seem to be more perceptive than the rest, I don't know him as you do so I'll have to take your word for it," the reincarnated ninja said.

"I guess there's a lot more to talk about," the kind boy said. "What happened?"

"What happened to your Semblance?"

Obito frowned at that, hands clasped together as he sent Aura to his eyes.

He felt the familiar resonance and opened his eyes to reveal the Sharingan to the other male.

Tanjirou's mouth dipped at the ends. "So you have two Semblances now?"

Obito made to open his mouth but hesitated.

Did he? Or did he awaken some sort of magic? Or was it something to deal with that large _thing_ in his head?

Was this _IT's_ power or his own?

"I don't know," Obito answered, eyebrows narrowed. "What I do know is that this is because of something that I consumed that day to save us. Something those men had on them that bolstered their power… and I think this is part of it."

Obito didn't think that revealing this to Tanjirou was detrimental. Even Obito felt the need to converse with someone about this and Qrow wasn't around.

Where was he by the way?

 _ **~NRK~**_

He grunted as he watched them, those two cloaked figures moving into the building from the side of the cliff.

'This seems to be the next group,' the Huntsman thought as he spread his wings and flinched. 'Gah! That bastard's wounds are still fresh.'

He had to assume that it had to do with that man's Semblance.

He took flight and flew around the top of the manor before scoping out the side and watching the two disappear into the side of the cliff through an entrance?

He kept it moving, remaining conspicuous, but made several circles around that side of the cliff.

'Interesting Semblance,' he thought, his bird form flapping its wings before landing on top of the manor's roof.

He'd already contacted and told Ozpin everything about this event, the old man telling him that they'd make a bodyguard detail for the manor's security.

That was all well and good but Qrow felt anxious, he was restless as they waited and knew why.

His blood had been hurt, his younger sibling, regardless of how skilled he was, was hurt because of these people.

His feathers bristled as his face tightened.

He wouldn't allow this to pass.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He washed up, the water falling down his head to his back and then to the floor.

He was lost in his thoughts before he heard the door to the men's locker room open.

"So this is where you're at," Marrone said as he tucked away his own clothes before taking the showerhead next to Obito's.

The screech of hot water garnered a sigh from his Faunus teammate before the sound of scrubbing filled Obito's ears.

"… I see that's what Ochre meant," Marrone said, catching Obito's attention. "… Sorry, for not being there to help."

He turned to the Faunus and wasn't surprised to see a muscular body tatted with scars around his wrists nor the ones on his back.

A fellow in misery, hmm?

"It's fine, I heard from the others, it's because of you and Velvet we even made it out. Your Semblance was vital to our escape and victory over those two."

" _Three_ , Velvet told me about that titan motherfucker that showed up. You did well to fight it, no wonder Inosuke stopped trying to fight you."

" _Velve_ -"

"Seriously?" Marrone threw him a flat look that managed to look both insulted and disappointed. "Look, I get it, you don't want stuff getting out about you. Because of this father of yours?"

Obito just stared at him before pinching his nose.

"All I'm saying is, you're fine by me. I'm not going to say anything, you've decided to do well by me so I can only return the favor."

"Trust can only be built that way, ya know?"

Obito sighed once more as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"… Inosuke didn't give up because of that," he said, causing Marrone to hum. "Inosuke's the type to _want_ to fight strong people, he's not going to back down any time soon. He just knew he wasn't going to get the most out of me."

"Witnesses?" Marrone asked to which Obito nodded. "Huh, I kind of want to see how strong you really are."

"Hopefully you never do, should the time come where I need to do such a thing…"

"We're in far more trouble than we think."

"OIIII!" came Inosuke's entrance along with the others.

 _ **~NRK~**_

They were off in the van once more, night having fallen an hour ago after their investigation finished.

"Hmph," the mercenary looked at the vial shards in his hand, the two having picked them up quickly from the front lawn. "So we're gonna trace this? Seems kind of small to find anything on."

"It's fine, any traces will be magical in nature. Finding that will be easy as long as not too many other magic users have messed with it- oh?" She stopped before finishing and gasp.

"Oh no!" the beastman raised a brow at her words. "He's calling!"

"Who?"

"A new recruit I found this month," she responded.

"Another one of ya? Ain't ya happy? Wait," he frowned as he cupped his chin. "This trail isn't going to last long, it's already been a week."

"Exactly! Crap!" she cursed as she pulled the two of them off the side of the road. "This is fine, we're fine, all I've got to do is… Wait, that's it!" she announced with glee.

"We'll bring him along!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

Obito frowned, once more at the peer as that spectral ribcage appeared in front of him.

"Hello again!" Dalia said as she stepped through, the large ribcage floating behind her. "It's been a long time, I'm sorry I couldn't make more time for you."

"It's fine," his deep voice greeted back. "I have more than a couple of questions. Too many things have happened in the past month that I _need_ answers."

She frowned at that. "Did something go wrong? Was it… _magical_ in nature?"

"… Hah, yes, Ms. Hawthorne." Her eyes went wide as he removed his hood and mask.

That black hair with a single white fringe greeted her as did cool black eyes of a cop she'd met recently.

"We have a lot to talk about." He said, voice normal.

Her shock slipped away and she smiled.

"Why, of course, Mr. Midoriya."

The tug at the back of his cloak reminded him of the rest of the answers he needed.

"Today we'll be having an on-the-go lesson, all about magic trails and tracking."

The ribcage popped open and she put one foot on the cusp.

He was intrigued.

"Come, school is in session."

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **And that counts as chapter 12, not as big as chapter 11 but filled with info and revelations between characters.**_

 _ **Obito's secrets are slowly being unveiled but those are surface-level to his deepest ones.**_

 _ **We talk about the incident and what it meant to Obito and what it's done to him along with establishing more rapport between him and his fellow officer, Marrone.**_

 _ **The others, Liz and Coco, are more clued in on some of Obito's hidden qualities. Little reckless abandon with words from Miltia and Coco's memory coming to the surface make them think about who and what he is, respectively.**_

 _ **Not much more to say, just happy I got this chapter to a point that I was happy that I could end it off at.**_

 _ **Next chapter we basically have a magical mystery and get a proper explanation on most of the rules about magic in Remnant.**_

 _ **Through much deliberation, I've figured what rules I want to use and those will come into play next chapter along with an interlude chapter that will have it all put down so many may come back to it to use as a reference.**_

 _ **Possibly going to use an up-to-date Character bio sheet as well. Who knows but it's going to be either after the next chapter or the one after that.**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	14. Trails and Vices I

_**Welcome… to Chapter 13, Trails and Vices.**_

 _ **Here we go.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

She blinked as he moved slightly out of the way to show the trembling Neo, the young woman's eyes wide as Dalia caught sight of her.

Her mouth dropped. "U-Um…" what was this little girl doing here?

"Apologies," Obito said as Neo pulled herself closer to the brunette. "I didn't know what else to do here, she's been afflicted with something magical in nature as well."

" _Another-_?"

"No," Obito cut off Dalia's excitement, the woman's excited expression dropping into a pout. "This one has to deal with magic of a more… malignant nature, if you will. A spell was used on her that caused her to… be like _this_."

Dalia frowned as she stepped out of the ribcage and walked over to the shivering Neo before kneeling before the woman.

The ice cream named female hid behind Obito even further as the teacher looked at her, eyes glowing yellow.

Dalia winched in sympathy at the dark lines protruding from the younger woman's top.

"I've… only ever heard of curses that take such a shape," the silver-haired woman receded from the younger woman's space and looked at Obito. "Was there a smaller skeleton with this? Usually, something like this has a progenitor that comes in the form of a small skeleton that would reveal this girl's curse."

Obito frowned as he recalled it. "It was small and darkly colored with a small body and large hands." She raised a brow. "I grabbed it unknowingly, I didn't know what it was but that woke her up when she was bedridden."

She blinked at him in confusion. "You... _Grabbed_ it? As in, you _touched_ and _saw_ the curse's precursor?"

"Yes?" Obito settled a hand on the small woman's head, Neo relaxing at the gesture but tightened her hold on his cloak. "My Semblance at the time could see it, that resisting presence you called it. I've since sealed it away for a later date."

"You- Can I…?" she asked, gesturing to his face, the young man in front of her closing his eyes before opening them once more but with his Sharingan active. "… Astounding…" she muttered as she stared at them.

"Excuse me?" he shot her a confused frown.

"I'm sorry it's just… your Semblance, those mystical eyes of yours… they are more powerful than you could possibly know," she said as she got off the floor and stared at him. "There are few things in this world that can interact with magic at all, much less the people in it."

"But you," she pointed at him in excitement. "You and your eyes are different!"

"…" he frowned at that but shook his head. "All that is unimportant right now, can this be taken care of?"

"Of course," Dalia said as she looked back to the ribcage floating in the air. "That said, we'll have to take this roadside." She finished getting a raised brow from Obito.

"Come along, we can solve all this in one go with some field experience." She said as she nodded to the ribcage floating in the air.

Obito stared at her, then at the ribcage, before shooting her a flat expression.

"He-Hehe, it's not as bad as it looks."

 _ **~NRK~**_

The van sat on the side of the road, hidden under a veil of teal energy that kept both him and the van out of sight.

Staying near the van, as it was the object of the field's emission, he kept quiet and unnoticed.

Then that woman came back with a pair of kids.

'Oh god, what is this?' he thought as he got off the side of the van and moved towards the group, the tiny girl staring at him like a monster and the boy…?

The raised brow was all he offered him before nodding? No look of horror, disgust, or even anger? Just… _nothing_?

This kid had to be the weirdo, no if's, and's, or but's, about it.

"This is our current situation- oh hi, Mercenary…. He…" Dalia eked out with a nervous laugh as he stared at the large man-beast. "This is my associate! Um… Mercenary?"

Obito raised a brow before nodding to the tiger man, the other male shooting the younger man a weird look before scratching the back of his head.

" _Right…_ "

Neo's grip on his clothes became ironclad alerting Obito to the fact that, in her current state, Neo wasn't exactly able to roll with all this as easily as she might have been were she back to normal.

"We should probably get in the car," Dalia said, sweat running off her brow.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"Now… I know that this all seems kind of sudden but I promise you that I'll explain everything to the best of my ability!" Dalia stated with fire in her eyes.

"So, please! Ask me anything!"

"Hmm, I'd ask to finally have a basic rundown of all that's happening now. Magic, this curse afflicting Neo, these trails that I've been seeing that lead into the city," Obito said, eyes watching her reaction to that last bit.

Her eyes were wide, hands surprisingly relaxed, as she looked at him in confusion. "You've been seeing trails?" she frowned. "Of what exactly?"

"There have been these lines of, I guess, magic that I've been seeing in the city. Though, saying it out loud, they could be the result of a Semblance… were it not for this object I found."

She leaned forward. "There were these symbols on the bottom of a wooden statue I found at some of the residences where these trails were. A plant-like creature that had a set of symbols on the bottom of it."

Obito brought forth a notepad from his pocket and wrote down the symbols. He showed it to Dalia and her shocked expression said everything.

These people were really bad at keeping secrets, weren't they?

"Those are Runes!" she took the paper from him and scanned it with a grimace. "And whoever it was isn't happy with normal people living normal lives."

His raised brow caught her attention. "Whoever did this is trying to drive those with close familial connections away from one another."

His eyes widened as all those cases came together and he remembered that it was, in fact, family members who were against one another.

He tucked away that info for later, right now he needed to learn.

"Hmph, right," Dalia pushed the paper into her sleeve before focusing back on Obito. "To get you up to date, we'll start with the basics."

Obito sat up cross-legged, the trio of him, Neo, who was hidden behind him, and Dalia, in the back of the van as the tiger man drove the vehicle.

"Yeah, just leave the tiger to drive, nothing weird about that," grumbled the tiger man in the driver's seat.

"You're disguised, it's fine," Dalia said as she waved his grumbling away. "Now, let's get your lesson started!" she clapped her hands together as she said this.

She held her hands out at her sides, palms up, and light began to float from them forming a series of symbols, runes, she'd called them.

"These, young man, are Runes, each of them coincides with a letter of one of our alphabet save a few."

Obito's eyes flickered red as he looked at them all, each symbol forming a pocket of information in his mind but with no information like the other times.

"Is this a spell as well?" Obito asked.

"No, actually, I'm forming my magical energy into a sort of chart for your understanding. Onwards, each of these symbols are called Runes. Each one holds an average of three meanings, effects, and/or understandings."

Obito frowned at the information.

* * *

 _ **Kenaz – Passion, Fire of Life, Harness power, Fire of Transformation**_

* * *

"You said _average_ , what do you mean by that?"

She smiled at him. "Each of them holds an average… in the sense of the number of meanings each person can ascertain."

"Hmm?"

"Each of ya fellas can only see a certain amount of that shit," the tiger man said as he stopped at a light and stiffened at a passing cop. "Yer affinities can affect that crap and, more often than not, let ya know what you can use."

"A little crude but not at all inaccurate," Dalia said with a clap of the hands. "I've told you before, magic existed long ago but what we dredge up today is but barely a spec! We believe each of these words had numerous meanings back in the day but now we can, at best, recall four. Or, at least, that's as high as we've achieved as an organization."

Obito could see that, the 1st Hokage had been nominated as the strongest for a time, with Sarutobi being the second with the title, God of Shinobi.

No disrespect to the Third but Hashirama was simply far and above a _monster_ in comparison.

So if you applied that logic to magic it made sense, older magic was simply more in tune with the origin in comparison to magic now that it'd been rediscovered.

"In that respect, every magic-user has a set of Runes that they align with that they understand to an extent," her energy flowed into the chart and separate the twenty-four characters into three sections. "And these Runes are governed by the 'God' Runes that lead them."

" **Tiu** / **Tyr** , the warrior, these runes are more physical and earthly," a rune glowed yellow that connected with the 7 beneath it.

" **Loki** , the messenger, the mental," another glowed bright white and did as the previous did and connected with its group.

"Last, but not least, is the God-Hero, or the earth god to connect with the others, **Ingwaz** , the concept of enlightenment," this one glowed a dark purple and… had a lighter glow connect to all the Runes?

"… Wait," Obito looked Dalia in the eyes, the woman smiling at him with patience. "If these 'God' Runes settle with Mental, Physical, and Enlightenment…"

"Yes!" She shot him a full-on grin. "They handle the parsing of the three energies, at least, the basics! To fully gain access to magic is to study each of these principles and find a Rune within each group to fully mix your powers."

"Hmm? And what do you mean by that?"

"There's a ritual," she stated. "To make one more… _in touch_ with the energies surrounding this world and the surrounding planets, that's how you learn in the beginning. While one may being in tune with a specific set of the magical alphabet, due to the ritual applying the rune, **Mannaz** , to all our members we can connect to all the alphabet. This 'mankind' Rune that opens the mind to an intellect of more esoteric understanding."

"So all the magic-users have an affinity for a set in the Runes but they have to learn at least one from all the others to fully utilize magic," Obito said to which Dalia nodded. "This is rather surprising but what's stopping others from learning all of them? Better yet, how long has **Orichalcum** been around?"

She perked up, eyes blinking. "To be perfectly honest, I only have conjecture that I've personally made."

"It's simply because they can't," Obito raised his brow. "From what I've experienced, you can't learn more than a specific amount of Runes. **Mannaz** might open your mind to learning them but Runes by nature are still of the unnatural, they are _foreign_ to human understanding nowadays. 'Humans shouldn't allow themselves to fall into the Abyss or they might never crawl out'."

Obito's eyes narrowed at her sad expression. "What happens? What happens when they learn too much?"

"…" She looked away from him. "They become something that we have to keep track of."

"Magical Monsters," his eyes widened. "Depending on how much they learn, they become beasts of some sort. They all have a hold over these Runes and their meanings to an intuitive level that outstrips ours."

"… I get the feeling you can't tell me what happens to them?" she shot him a sad smile.

"Quite the opposite, we try to turn them back to normal. It's part of why we want magic to be more widespread if more minds come into the Covent than more ideas can be passed around. Memory-erasure seems to be the right track but few know them much less have mastery over the technique."

"So this is how it's all done? Just add more and more people to the mix… or this isn't the only method," he asserted, causing her to bring her hands together.

"I know not what other methods there might be but, from I understand, our leader wants to make the change more immediate. In the next three years, we want to expose the entirety of the world to magic in its entirety."

"So soon?" he wasn't sure what to say. " _Why_? How long has this been in play?"

"Because things have changed," she shook her head. "This is more my rank of classified, so I can't tell you."

"Oi, we're here!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

Junior flipped through the book, hand on his head and drink on the table in front of him.

He was in the small back room right behind his bar, the room having two soft couches and a small table in the middle to finish off the furniture.

And here he was looking through the blacklisted books to see if he could find any good possible hires.

"Tsk! No!" he flipped passed the page. "Why would I-!" he tore that page out before setting it off in a pile to his right.

The true Undesirables.

There was a knock on the door and he lifted his head up to see a frowning Melanie peeking in.

"Hey Junior, there's a… there's a problem," she said as she kept flicking her eyes out the door.

"Huh? What? Someone you can't handle?" Oh gods! He shot up as he pulled his large bat from under the table. "Is it another crazy bitch?!"

"Nah… it's one of our guys but he's talking crazy! You might know him, I don't know any of these bastards!"

The Red Axe Gang boss held his bat off to the side before grunting. "Let him in!"

She did, dragging the shaky looking man in before shutting the door behind her.

He snorted at the nervous-looking thug, his red glasses shifting slightly as he looked around before looking back at Junior.

"You know the rules, off with the crap back here," Junior said as he took another drink only to spit it out when the man complied with his demand. "You! I thought your ass got kidnapped!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

They left the back of the van, Obito closing the door behind him as they looked at a large abandoned warehouse on the edge of the city. The warehouse was old, formerly used for a post office hub before they gave up on it.

The long strip of asphalt that led past a guard post to the warehouse proper was empty and seemingly void of people.

"And the clichés keep growing," the large tiger man grumbled, hood up, as he put his furred hand at the back of his cloak.

Obito watched as a large blade appeared, coming into existence in a gathering of particles that flashed as it finished forming.

"Don't mind it, simply invisibility," Dalia said as she walked past Obito and Neo, the former adjusting his cloak and bringing the smaller woman to his side before walking forward.

The beast man held his hand out, causing them to stop, as he leaned against the wall of the guard post and put his head near the door.

His sniffs were loud enough for them to hear but still muffled and he set his hand against the door before slowly swinging it open.

Open was surprised to hear zero sound coming from it and wondered if this was why Dalia was able to sneak up on him before.

Stowing his weapon away, Mercenary tilted his head to the entrance and they followed him in.

* * *

Qrow's eyes narrowed as he watched the cloaked individuals enter, the young girl clutching onto the wannabe kidnapper as he urged her to his side.

These guys were just the worst.

His feathers bristled as he took off towards the roof.

Time to get some answers.

* * *

They'd passed the strip and stepped into a side door that was near a large garage-like one with the number four on it.

Each step into the dark building was disgustingly loud in Obito's ears, Neo jumped at every sound and tucked into his side more and more the further they went.

They looked around, railings to offices and restrooms littering the walls near the entrance and in front of them were large metal shelves that had the odd few boxes on them.

"This is where it's lead us?" Dalia said as she looked around, eyes narrowed as she put her hand over her eyes. "Perhaps we should find a space to-"

"Stop," Mercenary did as he said and came to a halt with the others following along. "Ya can come out now! I know yer der ya bird brain!"

Obito's eyes turned to the side, the mercenary's call letting him know that that gaze on their back was in the warehouse.

Nothing moved, no sound was made as the beast man sighed and pulled his blade from his back.

"Fine, be like that," the gruff male said as his grip on the blade tightened before he twisted!

The swipe of the sword aimed at the furthest reaches of the warehouse, the sound clanks and cracks of falling conveyor belts reaching their ears.

As did the sound of flapping before the clack of shoes on the cement floor invaded their space.

"Yeah, I guess I gotta give up this ghost," Obito heard the familiar, raspy, gravelly voice and cursed.

Dalia had her hood up in an instant but Qrow grinned at her before winking. "Nah, lady, I'd love to keep staring at your face."

"A-Ahem!" Obito heard her stuttered and sighed at the action.

Seriously?

"But I can't possibly ignore our young girl here," Qrow said as he looked at Neo who circled around Obito, away from the Huntsman's confused gaze. "Huh?"

The former ninja finally realized how this all looked and facepalmed. "We're _not_ kidnapping her!" he exclaimed, his voice disguised once more.

Qrow blinked before shaking a finger at him. "Now, none of _that_. Wouldn't want her to think I can't save her."

"No, seriously," Mercenary said as he held his sword on his back. "That ain't why we're here."

"And you expect me to believe that?" Qrow shot the bigger male an unimpressed look. "Want me to believe that, hand her over."

"You realize that since we _didn't_ kidnap her she came here on her own right?" Obito asked with a flat tone. "You know what," he turned to Neo.

"Please go and solve this, we don't have the time," he said to Neo, the young woman looking at him like he was insane. "Look, I know, but all you have to do is just 'talk' to him for a moment before doing whatever comes after that."

Neo looked at him further before breathing in and exhaling slowly as she began to walk over to Qrow.

The Huntsman watched them all as the young girl came over before she was standing in front of him with a nervous look.

"…Um," he hadn't planned for this. "That's good? I'm used to stuff like this going on like in the movies."

"Clearly," Mercenary responded, taking his hand away from the handle of his sword. "Look, we're trying ta help both this guy," the big male pointed to Obito.

"And her," he pointed to the triple-colored hair girl. "No more, no less."

Qrow blinked as he stared at the girl who nodded and his gaze went back to Mercenary. "… Listen, I want to believe that, I'd love to, but you people hurt someone dear to me and I can't have that."

Dalia blinked once or twice before gasping. "You're friends with the cop?"

"Oh? You know him?" Qrow quirked a brow as the large cloaked man grumbled at her while reaching a hand into his hood to pinch his nose.

Obito watched this all happen with a twitch in his brow before crossing his arms as Neo walked back over and wrapped her arms around his back.

"Listen, we've got problems with them too, that's why we're here. They hurt the girl and we need to solve it." Mercenary said.

"So you're what? Some kind of investigators?"

"More like related parties." Qrow blinked at him before turning back to Neo.

"Yer _related_?"

"She's a friend, that's it."

"Prove it," the Huntsman said, causing Obito's eye to twitch. "Give me something."

"Like what?" Dalia spoke up. "What could possibly make you believe us?"

"Hmm…" Qrow wondered, standing to his full height and looking at Neo. "You let me in on this and I let you guys go without warning."

Obito had expected some kind of rebuttal from the two cloaked members but Mercenary's nonchalant 'Okay' caught both him and Qrow off guard.

"Eh?" the Huntsman's mouth dropped. "Seriously?"

"Sure, why not? We're in the middle of some tracking right now." With that said, Mercenary walked away before turning his head back at all of them. "Ya coming?"

Dalia followed easily while Obito and Qrow stared at them in confusion.

Obito shrugged and followed, Qrow right behind him.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"This should be a good place to start. Woman?"

"Got it!" Dalia said as she went forward and Mercenary gave her the broken glass.

The two Branwen watched as she placed them on the floor and wrote something around it before light flew forth.

Qrow kept his eyes on him, Obito knew, but the former ninja continued watching the ritual.

The light formed a ball and that ball turned into a mirror.

What they saw was a tall, lanky, man.

He had white, the literal color, skin. Dressed up in a pinstriped suit, he grinned at them with his pearly whites.

"Wha-!" Dalia said but was interrupted.

"I knew that I might be tracked," the voice was distorted. "So I set this up just in case, how nice."

Qrow blinked, mouth open, as he looked at the man. "The fuck?"

"If you're receiving this, you should know that I'm not here to amuse you."

There was the sound of 'whirring', like someone opened a canister of helium-

" **We need to leave!** " came the brothers' shouts.

Mercenary shot forward, grabbing Dalia's frozen form and holding her in his arms.

Obito did the same to Neo and they all took off, the sounds growing louder and louder along with the bursting of pipes.

"Shit!" Mercenary shouted as they jumped away from a fallen I-beam. "This whole fucking place is fallin' apart!"

"Tsk!" Obito kissed his teeth as the room began to heat up. "Gather up!"

His voice cracked, returning to normal but was ignored as the group did as he said.

The building exploded.

His eyes bled.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Coco stared at her ceiling, the day's training session leaving her with a lot on her mind.

First was Obito's words from when he was in the hospital, about what she decided to do after.

'No pressure, huh?' she thought as she laid in her bed, dressed in pajamas with little ducks on 'em.

Her sister really liked ducks.

Back to the thought, she picked up her Scroll and 'scrolled' through her search bar before clicking on the autofill 'Retired Huntsmen'.

The light of her Scroll lit up the young woman's face as she pulled her finger down the screen.

She read through articles of the retired, crippled, maimed, sick, and famous, the name 'The Reaper' appearing often along with a few others.

One being the 'Sword Saint', a user of a long blade, a nodachi like someone else she knew. She read the article, his name was Masamune, last name redacted, and was a famous blacksmith turned Huntsmen from 40 years ago from someplace called… O-Ori Kenno? Was she reading that correctly?

His chill smile bringing the wrinkles up his face, blade in hand, and long ponytail, made his relaxed pose more pronounced all of which contrasted the information on him.

He seemed to be famous for a 100-man brawl, disgraced Huntsmen, violent villains, and ridiculous stories of Grimm following after, filled his profile.

Each one taken down with ease, some even with a single stroke of the sword, and others outright _killed on contact_.

Her finger stopped, her eyes focusing on those words over and over again.

Her throat felt a slight ache and she got up, discarded her clothes, and took a shower.

As the water fell down her face, she raised her hands and looked at the small scars littering her palms.

She clenched them shut and closed her eyes.

Then her phone blew up, the notifications making a sort of cacophony of dings and bings.

She ignored it for now.

… She'd talk to Obito about it.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Qrow steadied himself as they hit the cement, the stone pier filling him with relief as he sat on his ass and stared at the cloak people and young girl.

They groaned, save for the lone guy with the small girl clutched to his chest.

"Yer Semblance?" he asked, not really expecting an answer, getting a nod from the hidden Obito.

"Thank you!" came Dalia's gratitude as she laid on the floor, hood off.

"That's mighty convenient," the hulking cloaked male said as his hand held onto his hood. "Whatever, least we're not dead. Not getting that van back though."

Dalia made to comment but Mercenary pressed a finger onto her head with a growl that got her to shut up.

Obito tried to let Neo down but that went about as well as trying to stop a fire with oil.

"Whatever, I believe ya," Qrow said as he got up and stretched. "Though this doesn't really make ya innocent, this all could have been staged… _but_ ya did still bring me along so I'll be lenient on ya tonight."

"If I catch ya later though, no promises," he said as he stared out at the water and the group could see the orange color of the explosion from the docks.

"Hah, that's gonna get me questioned later," the middle-aged man muttered. "That said, what are ya gonna do now? Turns out, your lead was a dud, supposedly."

"We'll likely try and identify the shards maker," Dalia said as she got off the floor. "While I can't trust tracking the man's signature, I can still track the make of the vial… as long as I've _seen_ it somewhere… hehe."

"You're a real case, aren't you?" Qrow said with a raised brow, causing her to flush. "But, whatever."

"…" Mercenary looked at Qrow, the man noticing his gaze. "It's for the best if you focus on the surface level stuff. We can't operate like that, you'll be useful on this side."

"This side?" Qrow asked, confused further. "What's that supposed ta mean?"

"Trust him when he says this," Obito spoke up with a shake of the head. "Don't try to go any further into this, it's not really dangerous per s-"

"As you know," the hulking male interrupted, catching both Branwens' attention. "Just don't, okay? It's safer for ya ta not know."

The Huntsman's put out expression caused Obito to frown.

"We'll see about that," the wizened Huntsman mutter before taking his leave, the pier not having any security this night allowing him to walk out with zero problems.

Both Obito and Mercenary watched him go, the man's form disappearing from their sight before the older male gestured for Dalia to open her portal.

They disappeared forthwith, Obito finding out that they appeared in some sort of cavern, the walls a purple color of rock that was smooth to the touch and precisely molded.

"God I'm glad we're done with him," the tiger man removed his hood, massaging his forehead. "Doesn't make this whole situation any more simple, though. We've got a body at least."

"So I'll follow up on the creation of the vial, though it will have to wait," Dalia said as she turned to Obito. "Today, I'd love to do the entirety of the ritual to you but I know we both don't have the time for that so we'll do this piece by piece."

"You want to do this ritual to me," Obito stated, getting a nod from Dalia. "Are there any side effects I should be aware of?"

"Well, hypersensitivity for one. You'll be opening up your senses to an entire set of new sensations and senses." She said as she brought her hand up and yellow energy flowed off her fingertips.

"Second, strength. You're going to become more in-tune with your physical and mental energies. When you can manipulate your physical energy, you can become leaps and bounds stronger than you are now, physically."

Obito's mind turned to his father and the man's way with the blade and his unnatural strength.

"Third… nausea, since this isn't the full ritual, you'll be getting this piecemeal but you'll still be feeling all these energies for at least a day or so. I said it before but you'll acclimate soon."

"Hmm," Obito thought it over.

It _was_ the weekend, still in the early morning of Saturday and he could just stay home for the weekend anyway.

"Very well, let's do this."

 _ **~NRK~**_

He stood in the middle of a series of circles and formulas, a concentric circle with Runes decorating every each of the spaces between the rings with seven circles that contained larger Runes in them.

He recognized one of those Runes, Kaunan, the 'fire' one. So he had to guess the other ones set around the circle were the elements.

Minus two who were placed directly at his feet, one of them being Pertho, the 'unknown'. The one he'd associated with this Dark element, so he assumed the other one that looked like a 'P' represented 'Light'.

Dalia went around each one, kneeled, laid a finger on it, and allowed a spiral of purple energy to flow into each Rune from her fingertip.

She did this five times before coming up to the Shirtless Obito, the small cavern they, he, Dalia, Neo, and Mercenary, were in was out of the way. At his Obito's behest.

The former ninja didn't want to introduce himself to the rest of this group yet, Dalia allowing this was something he was thankful for.

She finished circling him before coming straight for his back, her finger was a cold pen to his back papyrus.

Her finger started from the center of his back and flew outward, Dalia's eyes regained the pupilless quality to them, the dark outline on her eyes darkening.

"…" Obito heard Dalia mutter, her finger drawing upon his back, each word emphasizing upon her pressing down on five points on his back.

Just like the circle below them… Ah! It's the same seal, that's what she's drawing.

When she came back to the center of his back, she pressed her hands against it.

" **For it is in passing that we achieve immortality, tragedy molding our way with these words I release you from this mortal coil.** "

'An Aura chant?' Obito thought as the floor began to glow, his eyes catching the two Runes by his feet glowing black and white. Those being Pertho and the other one, respectively.

" **Laguz, Kenaz, Jera, Hagalaz, Fehu, allow this child of Dark, this coil that remains, to nurture and, through it, allow this medium to become the cauldron for these elements to gather.** "

Then it happened, the Runes flowed different colors, each a representation of their element, before shooting towards his body.

He closed his eyes, Aura activating on its own before he frowned.

His Aura… dispersed? Faded away? It felt like it broke apart and circled his body.

His muscles were relaxed, the fibers in that taut shape and running about his body.

…? There was an external presence. Was this the Otherworldly energy Dalia spoke of?

It felt extremely foreign, enough so that he mentally stepped back from it on principle.

That's when it all shot forward and wrapped itself around him along with his Aura. His body felt 'open' to the two, like little holes that allowed the energies to flow into and fill his form.

This all lasted for what felt like hours before he felt it. Those wispy energies sat in those holes before slowly spreading about his muscles, bones, and blood.

He felt normal but… _complete_. Like he truly fit his body.

This sensation left him with nothing else to do but open his eyes.

Dalia leaned on him slightly, staring at him in shock.

" **I** s something wrong?" he asked, his voice coming out garbled in the beginning before he found his normal tone.

"N-No… It's just… Here," she steadied herself before pulling a small compact out of her pocket before giving it to him.

He saw what she meant as soon as he looked at it.

Black markings ran up the right side of his body, reaching his cheek and becoming diamond-like shapes that spread on the right side of his mouth.

He frowned as he opened his mouth and saw sharp incisors, sharper than before, before closing his jaw.

He looked at his hand then his arm and saw the black marks reach a bit past his shoulder.

"… Is this normal?"

"No," she confirmed his assumptions with an answer. "I've never seen this before, what is this? Markings that signify you're a magic user typically aren't this… complex or, maybe, blatant might be a better word."

She reached out, hand resting on his darkly-colored cheek and marveled at the feel.

"It's like leather, ah!" she shot back, face burning. "Apologies! I mean your face feels hardier, not like skin. If I had to guess, I'd say scale-like." She stared at him in wonder.

"Is there a way for this to go away?" Obito asked as he crossed his arms. "Perhaps, a way to seal away my powers until we can figure this out?"

"…" the beast man was off the wall and already stalking over as he looked Obito up and down. Neo, hiding in a corner the entirety of the time there, stay huddled covered by Obito's cloak.

His nose twitched and he frowned as he failed to place this reptilian scent.

What was it? Such a fierce smell, tinged by flames, was fighting his nose.

"Hmm," the beast man circled Obito. "Wait… I've seen this before…" the tiger man muttered as he cupped his chin.

"You have?" Dalia asked. "Where? Who?"

"… On one of the members of the Mistral sect, the leader," he said getting a gasp from Dalia.

"Then this could only mean good things! To have markings such as these mean-!"

"It _means_ that they have a large ass Sin to deal with," the beast man interrupted as he glared at Obito who looked at him in shock. "Listen, kid, I'm going to tell you something that's going to make this whole situation seem like shit."

"Whenever you learn magic, get the ability to do it or whatever, you gain what's called a Sin. You have an action, logic, or emotion, which you have to worry about when it comes to magic."

"Like the seven vices?" Obito asked to which the other male nodded. "Surely it can't be that bad, all I have to do is not fall into them."

" _It_ ," the older male corrected. "Ya get one but it's one tailored to you and, if you even see it as an upside, your magic gets more powerful the deeper you fall into it."

Obito stared at him for a moment before asking the question. "What's my Sin?"

"Woman!"

"Aaalright!" Dalia piped up. "This should be easy to learn, all we have to do is look at your back. When you learn more, you can use magic on parts of your body to entice certain actions from magical objects. Now, let's see, huh?"

She'd gone to his back and pressed a hand to it before letting out a startled sound. The mercenary beast man came around as well and Obito heard the sound repeated.

"The hell? That ain't a Sin."

"It's not supposed to be… unless the young man believes it to be so."

"… Shit, I didn't sign up for this baggage."

"Is there something I should know?" Obito said in an irritated tone to the two behind him.

Both cloaked individuals looked at one another before grimacing in the same breath.

"Fuck it, you tell 'im."

"Perhaps this is for the best," Obito heard Dalia let out a long sigh. "Young man… is there perhaps some history of yours that would be relevant to know?"

Obito tightened his fists. "No, nothing that isn't personal."

"That might be what the issue is." Obito blinked at that.

"Why?"

"Because your Sin is Love."

Obito blinked once, twice, three times, before accepting the truth about it.

He had a feeling he knew what the two meant when they said 'personal issue' and 'not a Sin' now.

He also had an idea for why that was his Sin.

Uchiha had this thing coined the Curse of Love or something to that effect.

With love you open yourself up to hate and the Uchiha… Uchiha loved harder than others one could say, Obito was an excellent example.

The Sharingan was such an emotion-driven doujutsu to the point that extreme emotion like watching a loved one die could push the bloodline further, the Sharingan would become the Mangekyo Sharingan.

So to tell him his Sin was Love wasn't as surprising as these two believed.

"… With a Sin like this," Dalia started. "Perhaps you should rethink some future actions of yours."

"It's a bit too late for that," the beast man shook his head. "If it's this that means it's prevalent to him for some reason. It's already in his life."

They looked at him and he sighed before shaking his head.

He didn't know.

"Hm, be that as it may, you're likely better off than the rest of us," Dalia shot him a sad smile. "Can you really call this a bad thing? To have such a positive emotion as your pushing force is rather poetic."

"Whatever, technically she's right," Mercenary said. "Fer now, you just need t-"

An explosion rocked the cavern, the four of them in the room jumped and turned to the entrance.

Dalia ran forth to the hallway and her hands slammed into the wall causing the open passage to close with a wall of rock.

"Come on," Obito said as he ran to Neo, the small woman's hold on his cloak was tight and so Obito grunted before lifting her up.

His eyes burned red and he fell to his knee.

'What?!' he thought as Mercenary cursed, blade in hand.

"Shit! You're not accustomed yet! Woman!" he shouted, Dalia already pressing her hands on the wall to open a small pocket in it.

"Get in here!" She said to him and Obito reluctantly followed her orders and hid with Neo.

The wall came up, leaving a small hole in it for them to breathe and see-through.

Just in time too as the hallway wall exploded! The dust and sound of crumbling earth flew past the hole in the wall, leaving Obito with little visibility for a moment before he saw who it was.

A young woman, perhaps just barely in her twenties, stood there, a grin on her face. Her eyes were amber colored and full of malice while her fair skin and medium-length dark hair, which fell down her face, creating a beautiful image.

She sauntered forward, her skin-tight dark clothes, a pair of pants and turtleneck along with a turban, made finding her hard in the dark corridor for those without the Sharingan.

She looked around the room, her grin turning into a frown before she looked at the wall behind Dalia.

Her lips returned to their smug grin and she spoke.

"More rats for extermination," her voice was low, husky, as she spoke. "Didn't expect to see a bunch of others like this outside but I'll fix that."

"Whatever you want girlie," Mercenary leveled his sword as he spoke. "It ain't here, _leave_."

"Hmm," she placed a finger on her chin as she looked at the larger cloaked individual. "How about you join me? I've been offering to all of you and barely any of you have been cordial enough to accept."

There was an explosion that rocked the cavern and Obito's eyes went wide.

'DEIDARA!'

That bastard would take such an opportunity is this woman made the right kind of deal.

The terrorist wouldn't pass up the chance to make more of his insane 'art'.

Mercenary grit his teeth. "I knew some of these guys weren't right in the head."

* * *

"Neo," Obito whispered to the terrified woman. "You need to leave and tell Roman, this woman is dangerous."

Pink and white eyes looked at him in terrified confusion before she gulped.

"When I give you the signal, get out of here," she nodded.

* * *

"Be that as it may, we've gained a couple of good allies from all this. So what are you?" her smoldering eyes locked on Dalia's form, the teacher bringing her hands up to her chest. "Ally or foe?"

Her hands became claws and earth formed over them as such. "You'll find nothing here, do as my colleague says and _leave_."

The invader shot Dalia a pitying look. "Too bad, you could have _very_ useful. The other one was male and all he's good for is blowing up everything."

Another explosion emphasized her point… along with hurried footsteps as the said man entered the room.

"Oi! Cinder girl!" he said, an enormous grin on his face as he threw his hands out. "This is exactly what I needed!"

She frowned at him before facepalming. "Are you done?"

"Fer now, Un!" the blond man looked at the two in the room and grinned. "Oh! We're dealin' with the guy from the other branch?"

"Other branch?" she frowned at him, eyes burning in confusion. "Explain yourself, you said nothing about this!"

"Course not, ha!" Deidara laughed her off, infuriating the 'Cinder girl'. "I said I'd join you but they're mine to deal with! My art works best with magic users after all!"

"The dea-!"

"Listen, girlie," the terrorist shot her a look of annoyance. "The amount of people in this room who are a match fer ya is _three_." He emphasized.

"Me and beasty could hand ya your ass on a platter, don't test me!" he stated with a sneer. "Woman over there's an even match fer ya, only thing ya got is crazy combat experience."

The younger woman growled at him, teeth bared. "You-!"

"Now stop being a pussy and focus on fightin- Hmm?" he stopped mid-scolding to look behind Dalia. "The hell- you hiding something?!"

Dalia grimaced as Mercenary stepped in front of her.

"Whatever," his cloak bulged constantly as white animals came out his sleeves. "Let's make some art!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **Chapter 13, complete.**_

 _ **Words: 7.2k.**_

 _ **Nothing to say, working on 14 which is over 5k words and almost done.**_

 _ **Later!**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	15. Explosive Introductions

_**Welcome to Chapter 14, we've all been waiting for this and I've literally written like half of two other chapters by this point that I've had to archive differently so that's why this took so long.**_

 _ **Sorry.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

Deidara's arms flew forward and the traitor watched as, with one swing, every bomb animal found themselves destroyed with no fanfare. "The fuck! Wait-!"

Deidara pointed at Mercenary. "You're that fuck with the magic sword!"

"Heh, so," Mercenary smirked as he settled the sword on his shoulders. "If ya know, _leave_ _ **!**_ "

"Hmph!" Cinder Girl smirked as she held her hands out.

Shards of glass formed into twin blades in her grasp. "We'll see about that!"

She ran forward, Deidara rolling his eyes as he followed and overtook her.

Dalia slammed her claw gauntlets into the ground and earth spikes curved out of the ceiling at Deidara.

The man didn't pay them any mind as a clay lizard jumped out his back and exploded, destroying Dalia's attack.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "But, where's?!"

Fireballs shot towards the teacher and she crossed her arms to block with her gauntlets.

Deidara grinned as he entered Mercenary's range, the beast man hopping back with an upward swing.

The traitor's blue eyes went wide as he skid to slow down before leaping to the side of the beast man's elongating blade.

* * *

Dalia claws met Cinder Girl's blades, sparks flying from the clashes.

The intruder grit her teeth as she swung her blade once more, the clash with the gauntlet shattering the glass weapon. Cinder's hand continued forward, orange light emitting from it.

Dalia threw herself to the side as fire shot forth in a burst of flame. Cinder Girl's eyes went to the woman as she shot her hand forward one more, fireballs shooting at the teacher.

Dalia rolled against the wall, her claws flat against it, causing crystal to raise up from the floor in a shield-like shape. The fireballs splattered against it, dissipating into sparks.

The silver-haired woman pressed her hands against her shield before the crystal shot out at the opposing woman.

The intruder dodged, the large shard of crystal impacting the wall Obito and Neo hid behind.

* * *

He held Neo tight, thankful that the smaller woman was mute as she clung to him with a terrifying grip.

He turned back to the hole, eyes narrowed and Sharingan burning as he memorized the woman, Deidara already a recognized image in his head.

Was their goal to eradicate all the magic users? Why? Who was this woman? She'd said a 'they' earlier.

Was there another organization like Orichalcum that wanted them dead?

* * *

The beast man clawed the floor next to him and threw the dirt at Deidara, the long-haired blond shirking to the side before bending backward over the other male's weapon.

He turned the bend into a flip as a long tail swung for his legs and the blond came to stop on the ceiling with a grin at Mercenary's steadied blade.

"Ha!" the hulking beast swung the blade, blue lining the blade edge before it flew out at the traitor.

The blonde's eyes widened as he dropped from the roof and held his hand out toward Mercenary. Clay that had been dropped at the larger male's feet turned into spiders and latched onto his cloak.

"Shit!" the beast man got out before an explosion covered his form.

"Yes! Art at its fin-huh?" Deidara began to explain before he blinked at the unharmed Orichalcum member, his cloak filled with soot but otherwise fine. "That's bullshit!"

"Turns out you're not up to date on Enchantments, yet," the tiger said as he put his hand under one of his arms before it threw a set of knives at the bomb blond.

Deidara swerved out the way with a sneer before the sight of wire caught his attention.

There were three and they lined up right next to h-

He stomped his foot down behind him, his body pushing towards the wires.

"What?!"

"Gravity Dust thread, Mistral's good at weaving, ya know?" Mercenary said as he ran forward.

* * *

"Tch!" the Cinder Girl said as she jumped over the crystal golem's arm.

That annoying woman had used the projectile to summon it and had, 'til this very moment, her on the defensive.

'Salem needs to push my teaching,' she thought as glass formed in her hands into a large greatsword and beheaded the construct. 'All this magic at this woman's disposal… I WANT IT.'

Seeing the Orichalcum member throw around all this power made her want to rip it away from her.

Such power was something she desire- NO! Something she _deserved_!

Another thing was, this woman was skilled. Most of the members she'd come to deal with had barely put up a fight, much less fend her off.

Thinking of that blond bastard's words pissed her off as she lugged a large wave of flame at the other woman, that mage using crystal from the walls to shield her.

The other woman was smart enough to use clear crystal at that, all the others had had large blocks that they couldn't see through.

That shield turned into a spike wall as Dalia closed her eyes and began to chant to herself.

Cinder Girl threw wall after wall of fire and had little damage to show for it.

Then the floor beneath her sunk in and trapped her feet causing her eyes to widen at Dalia's grin.

Then the floor around her began to come up in a fluid-like motion to entrap her limbs and neck.

She growled as Dalia released her untouched wall and walked over with a disapproving frown. Like a teacher scolding a naughty child.

Cinder Girl's visage darkened at that, that smug vision, her eyes looking down on _her_.

Fire burst out of her bindings, Dalia stopping in her approach as the intruder growled at her.

"You're not better than ME!" Flame surrounded the room, stopping the other inhabitant's fight as thread broke.

* * *

"Fuck!" Mercenary shouted as he jumped away from the flames moving in front of him. "That girl…?!"

"Hah!" Deidara shouted as birds of bombastic clay flew towards the large Orichalcum member who's hand hissed at his handle's heat but swung about all the same.

The birds exploded before the tiger man could reach them, throwing his weapon from his hand.

"Tsk!"

* * *

Obito felt the sweltering heat long before he saw it.

"Now!" he whispered hotly, causing the smaller adult to disappear in the ruckus of flame crawling about the room.

Obito knew to let her leave, she wouldn't be able to handle the heat while he was another case.

He didn't feel it at all, something he attributed to magic forming in his body. At least, that's all he had to go on.

Aura could only fight off so much heat and he could tell these flames were stronger than that.

Though the 'how?' still bothered him.

* * *

'Her magic relies on flames but for it to expand like this on her own is impossible,' Dalia thought as she stared at the burning Cinder Girl, though she was assuming Cinder was her name with all the flame about.

This young lady wasn't just flinging flame around the room, she was in a sense but it wasn't finished.

She was forming a Territory, a place where her type of magic ran supreme, but it was simply not done.

The girl had control over glass and flame, those powers should be so much more powerful now.

Cinder breathed out flames like a dragon as she looked at the fire licking the room before turning her gaze back on the now reproachful Dalia.

She grinned, teeth sharp, as she swung her arms out and large glass shards shot forward.

Dalia already decided on shedding her cloak, the glass shards shooting through the cloth easily.

Dalia ducked low and stone shot up around Cinder, the young woman looking around as they closed in rapidly.

A harsh swing of her arm melted them easily, leaving her to laugh at the action.

Dalia, dressed in a pair of green, form-fitting, shorts along with a set of brown bandages that formed a top that also covered her head, peered at the laughing girl.

'Her Sin has to be related to anger in some way,' she thought, happy to be unburdened by the large organization's cloak. 'She's new to this power though, she doesn't realize its downsides.'

Territories were powerful, yes, but they had caveats.

For one, they were very energy hungry. Like saying a car engine to an airplane's. Cinder shouldn't be able to keep this up long.

Second, she didn't fully know how useful it was. Her flinging of flame and glass told Dalia that the young woman wasn't fully trained.

Territories had the ability to further the use of other Runes, in their own way, but this girl merely flung flames. She barely knew what she could do.

Third, and certainly not least, Cinder didn't know the ways it could be shut down.

Like Dalia subjugating Cinder's with the teacher's own Territory.

So as Cinder took her eyes off of her and turned to Mercenary and that other fellow, Dalia's gauntlet settled against the floor and pulsed.

Cinder glared at the blond terrorist, a smirk on her lips.

A little bit of punishment could keep him in l-

The flames died as soon as she came up with the thought, the area feeling colder than it did originally and Cinder turned her eyes to Dalia.

The older woman's eyes told her of her triumphant expression.

"He, he! HAHAHAHA!" the two women turned to Deidara, Cinder's full of annoyance while Dalia looked on in horror.

"No!"

* * *

Mercenary had seen better days but he'd had way worse ones.

As he lowered his singed hands, the fur painfully sticking to the gloves on them, he noted the now cool area.

And the laughing blondie.

"What's this?!" Deidara said as he looked at his hands, white substance building at the tips before he aimed them at Mercenary.

"BANG!"

The clay shot forward, the larger male dodging to the side as they did, the explosion throwing him away with force and causing his mouth to drop at the large hole in the wall.

'Fuck, he's an earth-type!' he thought as he looked at the truck-sized hole. 'Dalia shut it off!'

* * *

She tried to shut it off, her Territory failing to respond as she looked on in horror at Deidara's new explosive power.

"This is FUN!" the terrorist exclaimed as he flung white substance _everywhere_. "DANCE! DANCE WITH MY ART!"

Dalia felt her breath quicken as she jumped toward Obito's place in the room, hands pressing down on the floor as the clay began to light up.

"EXPLOSION!"

* * *

His eyes burned red, his hands pressing against the wall of his organization's hideout.

Magic flowed and filled the hideout and his members.

* * *

Obito grit his teeth as got off the floor and stared at the mayhem.

He was shocked to see that the room still held some form of shape but you could barely say so.

The entirety of the room looked like an underground cavern, water pouring in from somewhere causing a small stream, and the entire group in here was barely what could call 'healthy'.

Even with the cloud of dust around the room, he could see the state of all the other occupants.

If you didn't have a burn on you, you had a nice new gash that'd scar. His hearing was mostly shot, he could barely hear what's going on outside. He was sore all over and, when he stood up, found his arm bruised from its place against the rock walls.

Dalia was lying on the floor in front of him and he fell to his knees to check her pulse and breath.

Feeling both, he sighed as he looked around and saw Mercenary's large form resting against the wall along with that intruder on the floor some paces away.

He cursed the fact that Neo left as his knife was in a strap on the inside of his coat. That said, he still stumbled over to the unconscious body.

Strangling wasn't something he liked to do but it was the only available option.

He'd made it halfway when the dust around the room settled and the sound of familiar laughter reached his ears.

He grit his teeth as he turned to see the shaking form of Deidara as he laughed, his body covered in soot. Obito could see a bruise on the blonde's cheek and could guess that, with how close the blonde was to his own explosion, he wasn't as alright as his laugh seemed.

"Kuhahahahah! Kaugh! Kaugh! Kaugh!" the traitor laughed before breaking into a coughing fit. "D-Damn! I didn't know how strong that was gonna be! This is awesome!"

He chuckled as he looked at the downed Mercenary and Dalia before smirking as he turned to look at Cinder and blinked.

"Huh?!" he said confused. "Where the hell did you come from?! Wait… you were in the wall, right?!" Deidara grinned as he reached his hands into the small pack on his back.

"I told ya before kid, this ain't about you, this is about ME!" his arms flung out, clay flying towards the former Uchiha.

Obito stared at the clay, mind running at Mach speeds to figure out what to do.

He uttered one word.

" **Havoc!** "

* * *

" _Real nice_ ," Deidara uttered to himself at the explosion, only slightly disappointed at the lack of power. "Whatever that lady did, it made my art _better_! I gotta learn it!" he said as he looked at his hands, the mouths chattering together excitedly.

He frowned as he felt Obito's presence still. "How is he sti- fuck me." He said in a flat tone as he looked into the fading smoke.

A large spinning black ball of fire was in front of the teen, surprising the traitor. The flames shrunk before they disappeared entirely.

Revealing a pair of disgusting _eyes_. Their blood-colored pools, with those rotating shit stains called commas.

His knuckles turned white, his chest tightened, and his teeth bled from how tight he clenched them together.

" _Uchiha…_ " he hissed the word like a curse. "I'm going to _kill_ you, I'm going to make you one of the world's greatest piece of shit art and make sure _everyone knows._ "

Obito frowned at the blonde's apparent distaste for his former clan.

Had Deidara always been like this? Sure, Sasuke and Itachi's relation translated his hate for Itachi to Sasuke but wasn't it just that?

Those mouths in the terrorist's hands clattered aggressively, clay dropping from Deidara's palms onto the floor, turning into a pair of cobras that hissed in Obito's direction.

'This is his Sin, isn't it?' Obito thought as he narrowed his eyes on Deidara. 'Is this him working himself up?'

It made sense if your magic depends on hate than working yourself into a fervor would make your abilities more potent.

The trail of clay continued until a parade of white beasts sat at Deidara's sides.

"KILL HIM!" he ordered, the clay beasts roaring, actually _roaring_ , at Obito as the lunged at him.

Obito's eyes took in all the bombs, mind whirling as he held his hand forward.

" **Havoc!** " he felt the entirety of his body resonate with the command and a black ball formed in his hand.

He felt reinvigorated as he grabbed the burning ball and it formed a blade. The scale-like pattern on the brunette's cheek becoming more detailed as he cast the spell

He swung the blade outward, black flames carving through the animal bombs, igniting a few, and causing an explosion in between Obito and Deidara.

"Tsk!" the blonde kissed his teeth. "Gave him magic, huh?" he uttered as the dust cleared.

Obito was at the bomber's back and swung at his neck but found his swing wanting as a white patch flew out of his opponent's collar.

Deidara turned his head, a grin on his lips.

"Bang!"

An explosion threw both away from one another, Deidara rolling to a stop and Obito hitting a wall.

The former Uchiha blinked before pushing off the wall to avoid a large block of clay that cratered the purple cavern.

Obito landed on the floor and pushed off in the same motion, eyes on Deidara's hands.

'Without handsigns his techniques are more dangerous but that's not completely right,' Obito thought as he closed the distance between himself and Deidara.

The traitor of Orichalcum's grin was plastered on as clay sprung from his back and angled toward Obito.

The brunette slashed at each tentacle while dodging another, he skid to a stop at three tentacles forming a trio of bars in front of him.

His skid turned into a spin that severed the three pillars that stopped his progress before curving around them.

Frustration rolled down Deidara's face as he ran forward.

The distance between them closed in an instance.

Maybe a meter left between them, Obito's hand shot out.

" **Havoc!** " Deidara's eyes widened at the growing ball of flame in the cop's hands before he exploded.

The room rocked again by explosions and the two former shinobi skid out of the smoke to opposites sides of the room.

'Each time I cast **Havoc** I have to say the name, is it different for Deidara?'

This might be what would change the tide of t-.

"The hell are you two doin'?" came the voice of someone else that cause the former shinobi to look at the entrance.

It was a large man, easily seven-foot or more, who spoke. His red hair, tailored into a rooster-like cut and long nose drew their eyes for a moment before the two focused on his beady red eyes.

The two orbs glowed as he peered down on them, his eyes trailing from Deidara to the other unconscious bodies in the room…

And then on Obito.

Their eyes met and Obito's Sharingan's registered that absolute fountain of physical energy coming off this man.

He had to assume it was physical energy which, now that he was focused on it, the other two energies were barely a fifth of his physical one.

He remembered what Dalia had said about the Tiu, Tyr, whatever.

Was this that classified information? That there were those who could master the 'God' runes?

The fact that there were three might have had something to do with this man and two others.

"The fuck are you?" the rooster-top said as he leaned down and stared at Obito before focusing in on his dark marks. "You-?"

"… This might be good," Deidara said with a grin, catching the other two's attention. "What's up, ya cock?!" his arms swung out, clay flying towards the new man.

Obito's blade swung only for it to be caught in the large hands of the newcomer, causing the ex-Branwen to stare in shock as the clay made contact and exploded.

Obito barely had his other arm up to block what he could but stopped at the presence of yellow energy, physical energy, surrounding him.

"Understand that you've brought this upon yourself," said the newcomer through the smoke as it cleared, revealing undamaged peach-colored skin. "You should know you broke the top rule."

"No attacking the other members? Blah!" Deidara shot out his tongue with an unimpressed look. "Should have been 'No leaving' but, hey, I ain't a cult leader."

The large man shook his head. "You're barely anything," he responded, getting a snarl out of Deidara. "I'll make sure you know that."

The hulking man raised his arms, Obito seeing that his purple cloak was adorned by black bones compared to the gold ones of Dalia and Mercenary.

Physical energy gathered around them and that was it, causing Deidara to scowl at him.

"You're a real laugh," the traitor's arms shot back. "Bang!"

Clay surged about, Obito had the wherewithal to look behind him at the downed form of Mercenary.

He ran toward him and hissed as he lifted him on his right shoulder, Obito's leg screaming at the action.

He looked back to see the huge man just shooting him a raised brow and grin.

Turning back to the wave of clay, the man raised a hand.

Gold coursed about his raised arm, the black marks spiraling about it and stopping at the palm.

"…" he muttered something Obito couldn't hear and a black orb appeared in his hands before shooting off towards the clay.

The two forces made contact and Obito watched as the clay popped. Just popped and dispersed into nothingness.

Deidara's dropped mouth was the result. "Bullshit!"

"You'd know better had you taken us seriously along with your training," the newly arrived Orichalcum member said with a shrug. "Sucks to suck, I guess."

Blue eyes narrowed at him before turning to Obito and then to Cinder before cursing.

Clay animals rushed out like a waterfall from Deidara's sleeves, coming around towards them.

The beady-eyed man's brow furrowed as clay filled Deidara's side of the room.

"Kuh! See ya later, ya bastards!" Deidara shouted as they lost sight of him behind the bombs.

They exploded and, instead of normal explosions, the room was filled with smoke.

"Shit," the large human member of Orichalcum muttered as he waved his hands about.

Obito's Sharingan looked around the room, he could see the energy of Dalia across the room but he lost sight of both Deidara and that woman who invaded the hideout.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He came out of the entrance with a little fanfare, faking the idea of taking one of their members to be healed to the others that he passed by.

Cinder had informed him of the entrance she'd come in from and as he came out, he narrowed his eyes on the green-haired girl to his right.

Her eyes widened as he walked to her and dropped Cinder unceremoniously. There was a chuckle to his left and Deidara shot that gray-haired kid a curious look.

"Guessin' you chumps are her back-up," the terrorist said as he actually looked around and noted the dead bodies of some of the Orichalcum members before whistling. "Alright, you can do some decent work, I'm barely impressed."

"Cinder!" the girl said as she looked at the woman and her scorch marks. "What happened?"

The blonde shot her a look before a smirk was on his lips.

"Yeah, let me tell ya about the guy who messed her up…"

 _ **~NRK~**_

"Thank you, sir," Dalia bowed to the large man who waved her off.

"Whatever, names Coll, not sir. What are you all doin' down here? Everyone was told to go to the center chamber," the large cloaked human crossed his arms.

"We were-"

"Trainin'," Mercenary added as he sat against the wall, Obito beside him nodding his head. "Kid was learning all the basics and stuff, nothing big."

"Hmm? Who is this kid anyway?" Coll asked as he looked at Obito and his dark blade. "He's already throwing together Runes, though. Who's he?"

"… An apprentice of mine," Dalia said with a wince, Coll's dismissal of it was relieving. "I've been looking at what Runes he's more in tune with."

"That right?" the redhead cupped his chin before scratching it in thought. "He's a God-Hero type, he's more than likely going to have to mix it up."

"Huh?" Dalia blinked. "How'd you know?"

"…" he looked at her for a moment before shrugging. "I'm the boss of the IronSights, me and your leader work hand-in-hand to keep this place running."

"I also got a good intuition and people that fall to either side are typically different but he's more balanced than that." He looked more at Obito's blade before nodding. "Yeah, that enchantment is too stable and shouldn't be able to form physically like that but he's got it down so his mental and physical are about even if not slightly leaning in the Loki direction."

Obito understood all but that bit about enchantment.

"I gotta go and rope up any more problem makers," he shot the trio a salute in the form of a stiff wave. "Go get healed up and chill, this is gonna take some time to deal with."

His piece said, Coll left with little fanfare, leaving the trio to sit down and think about what happened.

"Who were they?" Dalia wondered out loud, sitting on her bottom with her legs at her sides. "I don't understand, what was their goal?"

"Hmm, I don't think just getting magic back is going to be as easy as it sounds," the tiger sighed as he touched a bandaged side. "Let's break this down…"

"They found us, though that could just be a case of bad luck with who we let in. We need to know who let her in."

"Not just that," Obito spoke up. "She's recruiting people, _magical_ people for something, and she gained a ridiculously strong member. Perhaps even _members_."

"And to top it off, she _knows magic_ ," Dalia said, narrowing her eyes at the floor. "Someone out there, somewhere, taught her about magic and that young woman isn't without potential."

"She only knew the basics but she had a strong enough fire element that she could establish a Territory, incomplete as it was." She saw Obito's frown and raised eyes. "We'll go over this later but, for simplicity's sake, it's making an area where you're at your most powerful."

"And she could halfway do it and someone taught her how to use magic," the beast man tapped his sword against the floor. "Not only that, she knew we existed, has combat experience, and most likely has lackeys."

"This wasn't some random attack, _someone has it out for_ _ **Orichalcum**_ _._ "

"And… hahh, Deidara saw my face," Obito admitted.

They thought over all of what happened before Mercenary got to his feet with a grunt.

"Kid," he addressed Obito. "Do you have a way fer finding out who comes in and out of the city? Got any friends in high places?"

"No," he refused to let him know about the connection between himself and Qrow.

Kind and understanding as the mercenary had been, Obito still had to keep some information should either Dalia or the tiger man turn on him.

"I'll wing it then though that's going to be hard with my looks," the hulking beast crossed his arms.

"I might?" Dalia said with a frown. "Though I'm unsure about how much help they can offer, they're busy with something. I don't even know if they're still…. Alive after all this."

"We'll work with what we have."

"For now, just stay low. Both of you."

 _ **~NRK~**_

He appeared at the docks once more, Dalia's ribcage portal closing behind him.

Orichalcum had, thankfully, an assortment of extra civilian clothing that he perused for a dark blue shirt.

He walked away from the docks and entered the street proper, slinking passed any possible security, before he walked the town.

The sites of Vale, nice as they were, were nothing compared to Mistral but maybe he was biased.

Mistralian culture made him think of the Elemental Nations who's own culture reflected Mistral. Maybe he should go and visit there sometime, chances were likely he'd go there eventually with Orichalcum's sects being in all the kingdoms.

Obito had been walking past a bar when he saw someone he knew.

Qrow sat against the counter, chatting up the bartender who was giving the Huntsmen some weird looks.

Obito watched the Branwen slam his hand on the counter thrice, cracking the wood and irritating the bartender.

The youngest of three walked in and immediately began pulling Qrow away from the counter.

"W-Wait! I'm not done yet! There's was this platypus Grimm once-!" Obito slapped him before dragging him out, much to the bar's amusement.

Once they were on the street, Obito brought Qrow to an alley and began to spin.

"Wait! GUjh! I c-can't!" Qrow found himself on his feet a second later and ran into the alleyway.

Obito leaned on the wall next to the alleyway, ignoring the amused looks on passerbys and Qrow's retching.

A minute later and a semi-sobered Qrow found himself walking out the alley with a grumble.

"Thank god for Aura, sup bro," Qrow said with a nervous chuckle at Obito's unimpressed look.

The younger Branwen rolled his eyes at the slightly intoxicated Huntsman. "Is this a special occasion or the usual?"

"Uuhhhh… the second one," he admitted that had Obito rolling his eyes again before he began to push him into the crowds.

"Let's drop you off at Liza's first before you do something I'll regret."

"10-4 buddy!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

They'd long since walked out of the city proper and into the more residential areas, Obito noticing more housing than stores.

Every now and then, he saw a poor person, nothing unusual in a place like Vale where there could only be so many jobs.

Most of them, he noted, were Faunus. The slight discrimination of the system he guessed, regardless of how stupid it all was.

Making their way to a two-story house with red dandelions on the doorknob and door itself. Steadying Qrow a little, Obito knocked on the door. The fact it was early in the morning didn't make this any better but Obito wanted there to at least be two or more of their group together.

When knocking didn't do anything, They sat on the doorsteps, Obito looking for his Scroll.

Qrow blinked at the other brunette, tilting his head slightly. "You got a tattoo?"

Obito froze, eyes wide as he realized what Qrow was talking about. "No, some bruise from getting felled by the others."

"Shame they don't know you're super strong, then all of 'em combined too," Qrow laid against the wall by the door. "Life'd be a lot better fer ya at the Huntsmen Academies."

"Hahh, I know Qrow," they'd had this talk before.

Obito was sure he'd have just gone straight for the license instead of schooling, he didn't want to frolic with those who'd only just gotten into adulthood.

He thought over his own childhood and mentally sighed a bit.

With how long passed it he was, you'd think he wouldn't care but, sadly, he did.

In the Elemental Nations, war was the norm. There was no time for childhood when you had to go on the frontlines by 12 at the oldest and 10 at the youngest.

"Imagine, all the time to hang wit cher little girlfriend, Cocao wasit?" the older man looked confused. "No, Velvet? Wait, wasn' brown? Chocolate?" he shot Obito a curious look that younger man didn't return.

"I'm not dignifying that," Obito said, thoughts involuntarily going to Coco.

The girl looked so much like a more grown Rin it was unbelievable.

Were Rin to live a normal life would she be like _Coco_? God he hoped not, that girl had spark but a flirtatious streak that would have floored the true younger Obito.

He frowned as his body felt… better, perhaps this was the acclimation Dalia was talking about.

"Come on, you don't even dislike Faunus, hmm…." Qrow rubbed his chin before somehow poking his eye. "Ow! Wait, is it Lizzy?"

"I don't like _anyone_ like that Qrow, Liza is a co-worker."

"Hmph, I'll figure it out soon."

"Cours-"

The door opened revealing an irate looking Liza in her pajamas who looked at the two brothers with a glare before she blinked it away.

"Obito?"

"Apologies, I'm just returning this," he said, gesturing towards the drunk, waving Qrow.

She sighed as Obito helped Qrow in.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Obito's walk home was thankfully uneventful as he entered the apartment front.

Pressing his key to all the sensors, he was up at his room and opening the door.

"… When the hell did you leave?" asked the bleary-eyed Elizabeth. "Wait, am I awake?"

"Yes, Elizabeth, you're awake," Obito answered, stepping in and closing the door. "I needed to think some things over, nothing more."

"Hmm, 'kay," she shrugged, Obito's shirt hanging over her form passed her waist. "Inosuke's over here right now, don't know if ya care."

"I don't, thank you," Obito said as he moved to the kitchen section of the apartment.

He checked over his pantry, fridge, and closet, mentally tallying up the things he'd need for the week.

"Liz- OnlyToes!" came the voice of the younger Thompson sister as she walked around to the kitchen, eying him. "This is a real nice place, OnlyToes."

"Obito."

"That's what I said," she responded.

He ignored her as he walked towards his room, passing the living room full of blankets and cushions he'd gotten for the group, and went in.

Liz watched the brunette leave with a raised brow as her sister spoke.

"Did he always have a scale tattoo?"

Liz raised a brow at Patty.

"A what?"

Obito re-entered at that moment later with a bandage against his cheek and a pair of white shorts.

 _ **~NRK~**_

They'd made it about a couple of miles outside of Vale before they came to a stop.

They used a truck with an open back, everyone else dressed up in civilian clothes, passing off as a caravan with Deidara acting as the leading Huntsman.

Driving out into the wild, Cinder had them stop and move into the forest.

Deidara's eyebrows rose at the Grimm parting for them, a royal procession as it were, with Cinder ushering them forward through the dark beasts.

The cloaked group looked unsure save for Deidara who shrugged before walking forward, others rushing behind him in some outlandish attempt of safety that the blonde scoffed at.

Seriously? They decided to do this and didn't even have the balls to fight some Grimm?

These people were serious useless pieces of shit.

As they reached the end, Cinder stood before a large vehicle, it's wing-like protrusions divulging its use to them immediately.

If any of these people tried to cling to him he was liable to kill someone.

* * *

It took them about ten days to reach whatever place this was.

Deidara stared out at the dark lands, Grimm roaming the surface of it that he'd not even caught a whiff of outside.

"What the hell?" he muttered as he saw large rocks that formed into a long runway strip that lead to a castle?

Well, whoever it was, liked to think themselves a King.

Deidara would have to see if they matched up.

* * *

They exited the custom bullhead and walked up to the castle before meeting another one of these crazy people.

"Oh?~" A Faunus, Deidara noted, a scorpion Faunus. "So these are more believers for our goddess?!"

"Tch!" Cinder looked utterly annoyed.

Which meant Deidara needed to get along with this guy.

"Welcome friends," he threw his hands up in greeting, yellow eyes peering over all of them before landing on Deidara and matching grins. "My name is Tyrian! And yours?"

He'd aimed it at the blonde who grinned. "Deidara, Un."

"... Ohhh~" he looked him in the eyes and grinned further as he clapped his hands. "Oh, an _interesting_ one! Tell me, friend..."

" _How many have you killed?_ "

Any problems that Deidara might have had with this man lessened greatly.

" _Enough_." Tyrian chuckled at the blonde's answer, nodding in agreement.

" _Indeed~_ Welcome to our Queen's castle~"

* * *

Mercury was many things.

An assassin who didn't feel a bit of threat from 90% of this little group.

A damn good looking young man who saw no one worth teasing.

And a fan of the blondie over there chatting up Tyrian.

Deidara, he'd said, a name Mercury found worth remembering.

As they entered the castle and moved down the halls, the young assassin kept watch of the cloaked guy's reaction to everything.

While his little friends were unsure and/or wowed by their surroundings…

Deidara didn't look like he gave a damn, frowning as he looked straight ahead at Tyrian.

"Tsk! Don't let your guard down around that man," Cinder growled out, hand to her head as she leaned against a wall. "That man cares nothing for collateral damage."

'Ah, so he _was_ lying to us,' the grey-haired teen thought.

The blonde had tried to give them a hit but neither of them, him and Em, believed him… At least Mercury _thought_ Emerald wasn't fooled.

Eh, more amusement later on.

They made it to Boss lady's Boss lady and Mercury actually found himself interested.

Cinder had recruited them recently and so neither Mercury nor Emerald had met whoever held Cinder's strings.

Now, they were going to meet whoever this was along with these mooks.

Mercury was prepared to separate himself from the others at a moment's notice.

"Now," Tyrian turned to them, back straight, arm around his back and one on his chest. "Our Mistress is curious about you all and wants a good impression."

His hand pressed against the door.

"Do well to not annoy her, ahaha! HAHAH!" he opened the door.

* * *

Mercury's confidence dropped as he stared into glowing red eyes with black sclera and red veins across white skin.

His body tightened as he looked at _it_ and knew how… _wrong_ but correct she felt.

Mercury was many things… And, right now…

He was afraid.

* * *

Deidara's grin nearly split his face as his sleeves bulged before white animals flooded the r-

It was a clean room, with a long tabl- the fuck?!

The terrorist blinked at the cleanliness of it all before staring back at the bored-looking monster woman, her head resting on her fist as she stared at him, in particular.

In the past month, Deidara's been finding himself in opposition to people like this lady.

It made him want to kill her.

Her eyebrow rose slightly and the corners of her lips raised the tiniest centimeter.

"What interesting people, Cinder."

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **Coming in at 6.2k+ words is this very chapter.**_

 _ **I hope we'll spend more time on this story together.**_

 _ **Good luck.**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	16. Help Needed

_**Sometimes, I don't really have anything to say.**_

 _ **Enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

His hair flung about as he went through the kata once more, the dark energy blade cutting through the air with no resistance.

'I need to get a haircut soon,' Obito thought as his lone white bang flashed passed his face.

His time in the hospital had left him with unchecked hair growth he was supposed to have cut sometime before but ignored in favor of other subjects.

Obito's eye strayed to the side where Liz and Patty were, the older sibling helping the younger shoot at a couple of targets on the range.

Inosuke's grunts from his side were a familiar sound Obito had gotten used to, the wild teen running through his own self-taught kata and flexibility exercises.

The brunette looked at his Scroll, the item a meter and half away, the monitor registered the weighted bans on his arms and legs at '30 kgs'.

Each band weighed that much and he barely broke a sweat.

He walked over, slid the dial under the number up to 50 and went back to his katas.

Each swing pulled on a history of muscles and scars that, ironically, kept his form perfect. Each step forward was a perfect small dash.

Each swing was a smooth slice.

Each crouch enabled him full power the second he chose to come back up.

And he had to thank Kojiro Branwen for all of that, unfortunately.

He was truly the complete opposite of Minato. The 4th Hokage had not been an idle teacher and worked with Obito as a child to grow.

He missed him as much as he did Rin, Kakashi, and Naruto, strangely enough.

Blondes had deep effects on him, he supposed.

His thoughts were halted as he was going through these motions for a couple of extra minutes before a flash of yellow caught his eye.

Turning his head, he saw a yellow-haired young man moving through the center, eyes moving every which way in awe and confusion.

Obito watched the teen for a few more moments before he allowed the energy blade in his hand to dissipate.

"I'll be right back, Inosuke," Obito called, getting a grunt from the young lad.

Walking over, Obito could see one of the practice weapons, wooden replicas for those without their own, under the blonde's arm.

"Okay, okay, I'll start with the uh…. What is that? That doesn't look like a treadmill… Ah, man, I'm so confused."

Obito raised his eyebrow before he stood behind the young male and coughed into his fist, catching his attention.

"Huh? Oh!" he jumped a bit as he turned to see Obito standing there. "Oh! Um! Do you- No, I'm sor-"

"Stop," Obito said, hand raised, getting the blonde to close his mouth. "What is your goal?"

"Huh? My goal?" the blonde frowned. "I want to be a Huntsman."

"Okay, but what's your goal for today?" Obito specified, getting another confused look from the lanky blonde. "Are you trying to work on your form? Pure exercise? Trying out a new weapon? Working on basics?"

The boy blinked at him as he nervously said. "All of them?"

Obito stared at him, the younger man fidgeting in place as the brunette's eyes narrowed.

"Okay… Then work on basic forms with that sword and shield, there are tons of CCT videos for that."

"Oh!" the blonde's eyes were wide as he nodded along with everything Obito said. "Yeah?! What else?"

"I'd personally suggest getting four forms down," Obito continued with a curious eye. "An offensive form, a defensive form, an evasive one, and finally a neutral."

The blonde frowned. "Neutral?"

"Yes, a form or stance that can flow into the others," Obito explained with a raised brow. "Most fighting styles have forms like these, though some specialize."

"Right, uh-huh… I'm Jaune?" the blonde held out his hand, a nervous smile on his face. "Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

Obito shot Jaune a flat look as he shook his hand. "I get the feeling you've never been on a date before."

"Grk!"

"Be that as it may, it's none of my business," Obito made to leave. "Focus on what I told you, from there you can branch out." he threw over his shoulder as he walked back over to Inosuke.

Jaune watched the older teen go and looked around…

He shuffled after the boy with the black tattoo.

* * *

Obito wasn't expecting to be dealing with a blonde, much less as his instructor.

"I'll have you know, I've only just started learning to do all this myself."

"Really? Me too!" Jaune seemed to relax at this fact. "I thought I was the only one trying to get into Beacon late."

"… I'm not trying to get into Beacon," Obito corrected, getting a confused look from Jaune. "I'm a police officer but due to some… circumstances in the past two weeks I've gained Aura and have these children teaching me."

He pointed out the Thompson sisters and the contorting Inosuke to Jaune, the blonde gulping at the intense training from the other male teen.

"They're in Beacon?"

"They're combat school students, we've been working on an assignment with them when I gained my Aura." Obito shrugged.

"… Really?" Jaune wilted at that, Obito raising a brow at the drop in attitude. "I guess they really are far ahead of me."

Obito stared at the downtrodden boy, the image of a familiar-looking blonde and Obito's younger self overlaying on Jaune for a moment.

… Dammit, Naruto.

"Just because they're this strong doesn't mean they were always like that," Obito offered, getting Jaune to look at him. "What makes you strong, Jaune, is perseverance and dedication to the art of battle."

"You don't have to be the strongest fighter, you can be the smartest. You don't have to be the smartest but you can be the most stubborn. No matter what, there's a style you can use that could push you above your peers if you put the time into it."

The blue-eyed blonde stared at the brunette before rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I get the feeling I'm making a bad impression…"

"You're young, it's going to happen," Obito shrugged. "You just have to keep trying and put your best foot forward."

"Yeah… Yeah!" Jaune hyped himself up. "I get you! Thank you!"

"Oi! Who's this?" Came Inosuke's aggressive tone, scaring Jaune. "Hmph, hmph… ignored."

"Ah!" Jaune slumped at the disregard before chuckling slightly. "I guess I do look that way."

The boar mask looked at the blonde for a moment before snorting with a nod. "Hmph!"

Obito rolled his eyes at the younger teens.

"Come on," he said to both of them. "We'll practice some swings with weights on."

"Oh yeah!" Inosuke was all for it.

"…Yeah! Let's do this!"

* * *

"Life is pain~"

"Hmph, ya gotta get muscles!" Inosuke said as he pinched Jaune's left bicep, causing the blonde to whine.

"You need to go at your own pace, Jaune," Obito said with a shake of the head at the flat on his back blonde. "You need to work your way up otherwise you'll wreck your muscles from going too fast."

"Bugh! R-right," Jaune agreed with a gulp. "I've never done this before."

"Most don't seem to," Obito added. "Usually people are just focusing on Aura empowered techniques or Semblances. That or they're just focusing on their weapons."

Jaune blinked at the brunette, eyes squinting. "Right, you said something about that… Aura?" he asked.

Obito's eyes narrowed in on the tone.

Wait… " _Jaune_ …" the fourteen year old jumped at the tone.

"Do you know what Aura is?"

Both Obito and Inosuke looked at the blonde, the youngest of the three males began to sweat at their intense gazes.

Obito's accusing gaze disappeared altogether with a sigh as he brought the blonde to his feet.

"Inosuke, awaken his Aura when I say so," Obito said, getting Jaune to snap his head up at him.

"What?" he said as he looked at Obito. "R-really?! I didn't even know what it was! I thought… I thought you were disappointed in me for not knowing…"

Obito shot the boy a surprised look.

He wasn't the boy's father, why was he so upset?

"Jaune, I'm not your father," Obito crossed his arms. "I don't have the right to be disappointed in you for not knowing something… somehow," the former ninja added with a frown.

How did the blonde NOT know what Aura was if he wanted to be a Huntsman?

"O-oh…" Jaune stumbled, fingers coming together before dropping his head. "It's just…Hahh, no one believes in me."

No…

"My dad doesn't, mom says she does but I think she's just being nice…"

Don't…

"My sisters keep saying I can be other things, not sure how, I'm not that smart."

Good god.

"So having you help me, even for a bit, means a lot to me… Sorr-"

"Stop," Obito said with a sigh, fingers massaging his nose as he made a decision. "… Inosuke, how good are you at teaching?"

"I'm shit."

"But you can help Jaune become more flexible, right? I know you can do it but if you can't…"

"Grk!"

"Knowing that... I apologize, Inosuke. I didn't mean to put you up to bat like that."

Twitch.

"I should have known better," Obito shrugged before turning to Jaune. "We'll find someone else, I know so-"

"ARRRGHHH! YOOU WANT FLEXIBLE!"A vein pulsed in the younger teen's head as he jumped into the air in an angry tantrum. "I'll MAKE HIM FLEXIBLE ENOUGH TO SUCK HIS OWN D-"

"Okay!" Obito squeezed the mask's snort closed, the struggling teen rampaging against his hold. "Jaune, do you live in Vale?"

"Um, no?" the blonde answered. "My family's visiting right now, mom's a small-time writer and she got a prize at a local bookshop."

"Do you have a Scroll?" the blonde nodded before looking at Obito's outstretched hand.

"Oh!" he handed his Scroll over and Obito opened it with a groan as he dropped Inosuke.

"Bastard!"

"Jaune, please remember to put a lock on your Scroll."

The blonde flushed slightly. "R-right, sorry."

Obito added his number to the blonde's contacts before looking at Inosuke. "Inosuke, do you have a Scroll."

"Eh? Nope!" the boar child folded over himself with a grunt of confusion. "Tanjirou's got one though!"

"Hmm," Obito handed the Scroll back to Jaune. "I'll talk to Tanjirou about it, for now, focus on what I told you."

The blonde looked at his Scroll in surprise. "I-I… I don't know what to say…"

"Then don't say anything," Obito finished. "Sometimes, you should just take the chance and not question it."

"Yeah but… Why?" blue eyes locked onto dark silver. "Why help me like this? I mean… you just met me."

Obito looked at the blonde and before turning back to the training center proper. "Because I know what it's like, let's leave it at that. I understand."

Jaune stared at him before nodding shyly. "Thanks, I mean it. I never did get your name-"

"Jaune!" came the call of a girl coming towards the trio.

Medium length blond hair contrasted Jaune's short one, large circular glasses sat on her face with freckles on her cheeks.

She was older than Jaune, Obito guessed, with a pair of tan-colored khakis along with a light blue turtleneck that was finished off with white tennis shoes.

"Sarcelle?" Jaune said as he looked at her. "What are you-?"

"It's three in the afternoon," she responded, looking at him and then Obito and Inosuke. "Hm, who are you two?" her eyes glared at the boys, slowly placing herself in front Jaune.

The wild boy with the mask was bad enough but that brunette with the long hair looked like trouble, his hidden eye made her nervous.

Also, a tattoo, really?

"That's none of your business-Ack!" Inosuke began to say but an elbow in his side shut him up.

"Don't mind him, we were training together," Obito said simply, getting a suspicious look from Jaune's sister. "Nothing more, nothing less."

" _Right…_ " she said as she eyed the cop up and down before adjusting her glasses. "Why don't I believe you?"

"Because yer instincts are shi- AHA!" Inosuke started before jumping away from Obito's jab. "Can't stop the Almighty Lord Inosuke! Kuhahahahaha-Gah!" Obito pushed the boy over with a finger and a roll of the eyes.

Sarcelle's eyebrow twitched as Jaune laughed nervously.

"Sar, seriously, it's fine-" She turned on him. "W-we can just l-leave, hah, ha?" he turned away from the demon-like visage of his older sister.

"Tsk! Jaune, you know you have to be careful of city-folk," she shot Obito a glare that the brunette rolled his eyes at. "Ya don't know what some of them are planning."

"…" the younger blonde didn't say anything.

"Now that's not fair," came the voice of Elizabeth, her and Patty walked up to the group with raised eyebrows. "Obi here's a cop, the upstanding type."

Sarcelle looked at Liz with a doubting look before turning back to Obito. "Most policemen, I'd assume, are older."

"Of course," Obito agreed, causing her to blink. "I'm simply an anomaly, I started early thanks to recommendations."

Now, Sarcelle looked at him with… more approving eyes? This girl had a protective streak it seemed.

"You were training my brother to be a police officer?" she said, tone less accusing and more curious. "Did he actually take my advice?"

"I trained him to do whatever he pleased," Obito countered, holding her gaze before she looked away. "Whatever he chooses to do with it, I hold no weight in his choice.

"It's his life, not mine," Obito emphasized, staring her down before softening a bit. "We've all got to make our own choices eventually."

Jaune stared at Obito, digesting his words before he stood up straight.

"I was asking them to train me so I can go to Beacon in two years," Jaune said, shocking his sister.

"Jaun-"

"I _want_ this!" Jaune interrupted. "I WANT to make sure I don't disgrace our family name, I want to be a hero you all can approve of."

"But we…" Sarcelle stared at him before looking away. "We want you to be _safe,_ Jaune."

"For how long?" he countered with a frown. "You guys can't protect me forever, I'm going to have to deal with the real world like everyone else."

"I get it, alright?" Liz added as Sarcelle looked at her. "We want to protect them from everything, you name a danger and I'd never want Patty near it… _but…_ "

She threw an arm around her younger sibling. "That's no way to live! Protecting someone from everything is only going to hurt you all in the end, trust me, I had to learn that the hard way."

"Damn right you did!" Patty said with a stern expression that caused Liz to roll her eyes.

"You see?"

Sarcelle looked around at the others, the teens all blinked as she shied away a bit with a quickened breath.

Too close, Obito noticed.

"I'll deal with this, you all go get cleaned up," Obito ordered, getting confused nods from the others.

Sarcelle watched them go with a nervous breath as Obito spoke.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, bowing at the waist, catching her attention. "We don't want to gang up on you, I didn't realize how this looked from the beginning and I apologize."

Jaune nodded with a smile.

"I… Jaune has gone through a lot of phases," Sarcelle started, getting an annoyed frown from the person in question. "How do you know this isn't one of them?"

"I don't," he admitted to her. "I don't know him like you do nor his history but I could see one aspect of him that aided my decision."

She gently removed her glasses, worried blues eyes peered into cool dark silver. "And that was?"

"To prove something," Obito said simply. "A strong drive, a drive that likely would have had him go to Beacon regardless of if I trained him or not."

Sarcelle turned to Jaune, the younger sibling looking away from her wide eyes.

"Jaune!"

"Thanks," the male blonde mumbled.

"Jaune may not have talent but he's stubborn," Obito stated, regaining Sarcelle's, irritated, attention. "He just needs actual guidance to see it through. Tell me, in his other endeavors, was there anyone who gave Jaune actual instruction?"

"… We bought him a guitar-"

"Which I still play," the brother stated before shrinking from Sarcelle's flat stare.

"That he, admittedly, plays but… we don't really have money to pay for instructors that he might not care for in a week."

Jaune's grumbling was ignored by the cop. "I understand but I can assure you, actual guidance in an activity can make a world of difference for someone like Jaune."

After watching bits and pieces of Naruto's life through the mental scape, Obito couldn't scold Kakashi enough.

Ignoring Obito's 'condition' of Madara, why did Kakashi leave Minato-sensei's _child_ to his own devices?!

"… We'll see," she caved, looking down on her glasses.

"Sarcelle, come on, I know you guys love me… but I need you to _believe in me_ ," Jaune admitted, causing her to wince. "That's really all I want, to not be a failure."

"You're not," she stated, turning on him, blinking at his shocked expression. "Maybe we should have believed in you more, maybe push for some actual instruction for at least a month to see-"

"Sar, I get it," Jaune scratched the back of his head. "8 kids can be a lot to pay attention to, I kind of learned, so I didn't really blame you all."

Jaune looked at the two in shock.

 _Eight!_

Sweet hell, who popped out that many children?! Why?!

"I'm sorry but you two are two of _eight_?" Obito had to ask, staring at their nods incredulously.

"Seven girls," Sarcelle started before pointing to Jaune. "And a boy, same mom."

"Jaune, you're the youngest?"

"What? No!" the blonde shot him a flat look. "I'm fifth oldest… I don't really want to think about it, dad was always too eager to get the 'Birds and the Bees' out of the way, way too quickly."

Obito just chalked it up to Remnant weirdness, if not self-preservation, and kept the conversation focused.

"The point is," Obito set a hand on the older Arc's shoulder, the girl jumping at the action. "Just show a little trust in him in this, should he continue, Jaune will have training that can open the doors for a lot of opportunities." That said, Obito removed his hand and nodded to the siblings.

"I'll take my leave."

* * *

Jaune saw his family waiting by the front, him and Sarcelle walking towards the doors at a slow pace.

"… I guess you're not exactly happy with me, huh?"

"… I'm not mad at you, maybe I, we, should have given you a little more of a push. All of picked up something and stuck to it from the get-go… maybe that's why we treated you differently."

"Maybe… but I'm glad you're my sisters, no take-backs," he grinned.

Sarcelle rolled her eyes but smiled back at him.

"Whatever, just make sure to listen to Mr…? I didn't get his name," she realized.

"Well, in my Scroll he's 'Obito' so I think that's his name, I'm sure I heard the others calling him that, I think."

"Obito… At least he seems to be a good influence on you. Yeah, a proper man leads, teaches, and ensures the young have a proper future." She muttered as she pulled out a small notebook from her pocket and scribbled into it. "Hmm, strong, cool, and masculine…" she blushed a little as she wrote something else down.

Jaune raised a blonde brow as he shot her a question.

"Wait, do you have a crush on him?"

Sarcelle burned red as she turned on Jaune.

"I have no crush-!"

"What's this about a crush? Hmmm~"

" **Ahh! Mom!** "

 _ **~NRK~**_

He sighed as their members slowly disappeared from the room.

"That's the second meeting with the middle ranks, now that only leaves."

"Negrandel," came the gruff voice of Collbrande as he walked up to the Orichalcum leader. "Any leads on the bastards hittin' our crew?"

"Unfortunately, no," the cloaked man rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I have an Acolyte looking into it."

"We gotta get these bastards before they come back with more murderers, speaking of," the large man's frown turned into a snarl.

"Seriously, what the fuck?!" the floor cracked beneath Collbrande's feet. "Who invited that blonde bastard?! How did he get into the group?!"

"… That is a very good question," Negrandel leaned back in his seat with a frown. "That man, I recently received another relic from him and Loki of Mistral said to be weary of him…"

"And you didn't listen?" The giant man shot the leader an incredulous look that had the man slumping further into his seat. "She's supposed to be this grand master of yours! Why didn't you listen?!"

"I was trying to give him a chance!" he responded, shooting up in his seat. "Just because someone is troubled doesn't make them the enemy!"

"And look at where that got us!" the redhead shouted back. "I had to have these civilians _moving bodies_! Do you realize how fucked up that is?!"

"I'm perfectly aware!" Negrandel said before dropping in his seat and putting both hands on his face. "Yes! I know! I messed up!"

"I'm trying to do what's right!" Collbrande huffed before crossing his arms with a curse.

"You have to be more strict on your standards," the larger male said. "Sure, it's gonna suck for a bit but we're gonna bring magic to the WORLD. A little bit of mean isn't going to kill anybody."

"… Perhaps, hahh," the leader sighed before looking at the floor. "Is there any good news?"

"Nothing I can think of, we got another newbie though. I saw him myself, so I can tell ya he's clean… Big ass Sin though."

"Is that so?" the fully cloaked man perked up a bit before humming. "Should I take an apprentice?" the cloaked man said aloud, catching Collbrand off guard.

"Whoa, whoa," the larger man put his hands up. "Let's think about this, alright? Why would you want an apprentice? Ain't you too busy fer that?"

"I might be but with this recent development, I want to ensure there are more like-minded people in **Orichalcum** and that those people have enough power to protect the others. You couldn't get to everyone, I don't want that situation to happen again."

"Hmph," Collbrand leaned against the lone table in the room with a grunt. "Well… as long as we can do our jobs, what's an intern, right?"

"Thank you," Negrandle said as he got up and held a pair of fingers to his forehead. "I'll focus on our current situation for now but I want to ask Zero if she has any candidates."

"Not feeling too generous, huh?" Collbrand said with a grin.

"It's as you said," Negrandel shrugged.

"I need to be a little stricter."

 _ **~NRK~**_

She frowned as she gently lowered the pair down onto a cottage with the wave of a finger.

"Hmmm, get some rest. You two have been through a lot," she whispered to the boy as his eyelids fluttered closed.

Nodding to that, she turned to the girl, her blue eyes locking onto the woman's own.

She smoothed out the girl's orange hair and smiled at her.

"I promise, you're safe."

Their gazes stayed locked until the younger woman slowly allowed her eyes to close.

"Thank you…" the girl fell to the sandman's dust and was asleep in seconds.

She stayed for a few moments before turning and leaving the room, gently closing the door.

Her expression dropped immediately and she flew through the cave system with a frown.

"Damn it!" she shouted as she shot out the cave system entirely, floating above her group hideout. "Tsk! This is all my fault…"

She pressed two fingers against her temple, already sure there was nobody in the vicinity, and closed her eyes.

'Mer-'

'Zero?' she jumped.

"Negrand?" she muttered. 'Is something wrong?'

'… Yes but we can talk about that later, it seemed like you were trying to reach someone. Something wrong?'

She thought it over before frowning. 'I messed up.'

'… In what way? Master-'

'What'd I tell you?'

'I know, I know… did something go wrong? Were you attacked too?' she squawked.

' _ATTACKED?!_ ' she screamed mentally. 'You guys got attacked?! By who?!'

'We don't know but, from what I've heard, someone else has magic Zero.'

'And they have an apprentice.'

 _ **~NRK~**_

It was Marrone who he'd been training with today, the male Faunus more than happy to 'help with Aura'.

That's why they were going at it in hand-to-hand, the two brunettes' fists crashing into one another before either receded from another set of clashes.

"Thankful the others aren't here, huh? Or, at least, the ones that _don't_ realize anything," Marrone said as Velvet stood on the referee's platform.

She watched them, her ears free of her beret for the first time they'd seen it by her own power, revealing her Faunus features. The trio were back in their workout clothes as they decided today they'd work on hand-to-hand while the others were out.

She seemed to be gaining confidence, Obito noted. Good, she'd need it for her days as a Huntress.

"D-Draw!" she stumbled out, calling their match to a close. "G-Good job, you two!"

At least it was a work-in-progress.

"So, when will I see you in full form?" Marrone said as Velvet jumped down from the descending platform. "I get that the idea is to keep it low but I can't help but hate you holding back on me."

"Maybe one day," Obito said as the three walked off the arena. "Doing it in Vale would defeat the purpose if anyone saw and/or said anything to the others. Though…"

"That list on who knows is probably larger than you think," Obito admitted getting a raised brow from Marrone.

"Wait-"

"Sup, short people," came a voice from the wall to their left.

"Huh?" Marrone said as he looked at the dark blue wall tiles. "Where'd that come from?"

"Uuh, hello? Up here?" came the voice again and the trio looked up to see a smiling face. "Sup."

"… How much juice do you drink?!"

"ALL the juice."

"… e," Velvet's ears flopped on top of her head as she gaped at the man's ridiculous height.

He looked like he could bite her head off!

"Hello sir, how can we help you?" Obito said as Coll scratched the back of his head.

He was in a workout outfit not unlike them, just a dark blue muscle shirt, shorts, and shoes. One could mistake for him a basketball player.

"I remember what you kids were out here test him," he pointed to Obito. "Heard he just got his Aura, right? He any good at summoning it?"

Obito raised a brow at that question before his eyes widened as Marrone began to speak.

"He's pretty dec-"

"I could use a couple more pointers," Obito interrupted, catching Velvet and Marrone off-guard. "What better help than a Huntsman?" Obito offered to all, everyone else getting a different meaning out of it.

"You know what, he's right!" Marrone said with a nervous chuckle.

"Hm!" Velvet nodded.

"Alright, let's hit the bleachers for a little lesson," with that said, Coll led Obito away.

"This'll be quick, so if you guys want to watch, eh," the giant man shrugged as Obito turned to the two Faunus.

"I'll be quick, go get cleaned up," Obito said with a wave, getting curious stares from the two before they nodded.

"Alright, see ya later."

The two Faunus leaving, Obito and Coll went to the very end of the bleachers.

"Good kids, so let's get this underway," Coll said. "You got a feel for your mental energy yet?"

"Yes, it's the thinner power, it feels like the wind in my body," Obito explained, getting a nod from the redhead.

"That's good, so first push it to your skin," Coll instructed, watching as Obito closed his eyes and a thin film of black flickered off the brunette's skin. "Alright, now, push the physical energy into it."

Obito's eyes opened as he stared at Coll. "That… is a more complex action. I believe that energy is directly in my muscles, it's resistant to my call."

"Hm," the long-nosed man scratched his chin before grinning. "You don't know how it works, physical energy flows with intent and action."

"Pretend you're trying to catch your mental energy, reinforce it, and make it solid."

Obito stared at him, mulling over the instructions before focusing inward once more.

Physical energy felt like plastic on his muscles, pulling on it was like revealing his muscles to the environment and made them feel airy and vulnerable. He nudged it and the film dragged before going back to normal.

He frowned as he allowed his spiritual energy to flow, the dark tint appearing over him once more, before prompting the physical energy to cover that as well. The reaction was intriguing as the physical slowly moved to the mental, wrapped around a single part and then spread over it. He packed it into layers, the process of blacksmithing running through his mind as he mentally did the procedure with the two powers.

Coll watched as the tint became darker in color and grinned as it flashed over Obito's form, the spiky-haired teen opening his eyes and looking at his hands.

"Now, I need to make this clear, while it looks like Aura, it's not the full deal," the giant man said, catching Obito's attention.

"How so?"

"Unlike Aura, this thing doesn't have a healing factor to it. That's more mental stuff and I ain't proficient in it so you have to be careful still."

"Hm," Obito nodded before raising a hand and looking at it.

Through the gaps in his fingers, he could see Coll grinning.

"Though," he began. "No one said it doesn't have its own benefits." The man walked forward and removed a knife from his back.

"Watch," he said as he covered the knife in yellow energy, physical energy, the blade glowing before transforming.

The normal combat knife now had a flame-like edge, the color changing at the same part to an orange. The handle was now bright red with the guard compacted into a long ended diamond over the top of the handle.

Obito stared at the knife.

What had that been?

"Aura is the power of the soul," He showed Obito the side of the knife. "That said, it's still a spell that people have imprinted on their very beings. So I've played with it.

"What happens when you project your entire being, your soul, into a weapon?"

The dagger grew in size, enough so that Coll held it over, and rest on, his shoulder with one hand.

A large flame-like great scimitar held in the giant's hands.

"You get something that becomes stronger than any manmade weapon that incorporates everything you are into it. Doing this makes it the catalyst for your magic and anything that comes from an item of actual worth to you, through time or even sentiment, it becomes stronger."

"I imagine a good example would be a blacksmith?" Obito asked, getting a smirk from Coll. "If he made a blade that borne all his resentment and used it-"

"Anything that comes from it becomes twisted by his soul and more powerful because it runs off his anger. Plus, if anger were his Sin?" the giant chuckled, the sound reverberating through his wide chest. "It'd become something that could beat _anything_."

Obito never knew where all of Kojiro's strength came from before all this but now?

He was in for the long haul, he was learning everything he needed to know.

For, by his twenty-first birthday, Kojiro would come to find him.

And that man would only find death.

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **And here we have chapter 15, introducing Jaune and two other, obvious I believe, characters into the fold. Will they play a bigger role before Canon? Maybe, definitely not ALL of them.**_

 _ **Words: 5.4k+ and one of the shorter ones but I'm keeping consistent.**_

 _ **Chapter 16 is actually finished but I'm still reviewing it. Can't have it come out without my personal seal of approval.**_

 _ **Take care, I still have work since it's counted as "essential."**_

 _ **Stay clean and safe.**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	17. Museum Masquerade

_**~NRK~**_

Roman paced, Junior had been kind enough to allow the thief to rent a room in his club.

He looked at Neo, the girl wrapped up in the coat of that serious brat, asleep on the bed.

He sighed into his palm, twitching for a cigar but was forbidden by Junior to do so in his club's rented rooms.

Grumbling about stingy mob bosses, Roman Torchwick made to go do a night on the town when his Scroll rang.

 _His_ Scroll rang.

The thief stared at it in his pocket for all of a second before cursing in his head as he brought it out. He didn't recognize the caller ID at all.

"Great, what, this a telemarketer? What a shitty joke," the thief muttered as he ended it and went back-

It rang _again_ , causing him to look at it in worry.

No one but Neo had his Scroll number. Not even Junior had it and Roman did business with the Big Bear more often than most.

He looked at the caller ID that read 'Unknown' which made him more suspicious.

Roman hadn't been on the town like usual, worrying over Neo, so he wasn't really worried about being tracked at the moment.

So who the hell was calling _him_?

 _ **~NRK~**_

His week away from work was coming to an end, the days passing by in a flash. His hair now in a short wolf's tail at the base of his head in the back, thanks to Liz's familiarity with Patty's hair.

Obito was in his kitchen, the Thompson Sisters in his living room watching the television.

He'd just finished making some rice when Patty spoke up.

"You're going to the museum, right?" she asked. "It looks cool! Wish we could go." She pouted at him with pleading eyes before she squealed at Elizabeth's disapproving stare.

"We're _fine_ ," the older sibling emphasized, cowing Patty before turning to Obito. "Take it easy, alright? Don't need any more ambushes, ya know?"

"Hopefully, it stays that way," Obito said as he finished cutting some vegetables before removing some sesame oil from his pantry. "Qrow's gotten in as a guard for the opening so there's little chance of it happening again with more Huntsmen around."

"Sick!" Patty nodded. "So… How's that food coming along?"

"You still need to wait, Inosuke's not even out the sh-"

"I AM CLEAN!" entered the unmasked Inosuke, the boy's face open for all to see as he laughed to himself. "HAHAHAHA! Kobi! That shower was great!" the wild child's blue hair slapped against his head as he said as he made to remove the towel from his waist.

"INOSUKE!" Liz shouted as she covered Patty's eyes, the younger girl pushing the older girl's hands down in anticipation. "Put some damn clothes on!"

"Ha?" he said with a raised brow before a grin formed on his face. "Worry not! Mere mortals! The Almighty Inosuke will allow you to see his true nature!"

"Inosuke… If so much as a _centimeter of skin_ is shown you're going hungry," Obito threatened without turning around, getting the younger boy to freeze in his tracks.

"What?! No?!" the boar boy shouted with terror. "You wouldn't!"

Obito simply turned his head to look at him with a flat glare as he slowly began to push some of the vegetables into the garbage.

The rowdy teen was out of sight in seconds, the door to Obito's room slamming shut before Obito could get one diced vegetable into the garbage bag.

"Whew! Thank you," Liz said with a groan and release of relieved breath. "Seriously, what the hell had Tanjirou been teaching him?"

"From what I understand, he found Inosuke in the forest and the Kamados informally adopted him," Obito said as he pushed the rice, vegetables, oil, and soy sauce into a wok. "I can't imagine that he's as tolerant as he was in the beginning."

"Tsk! That guy needs a course in manners on every level," Liz said as she looked at the clock on the wall that read '6:00 pm'. "Might want to hurry, your thing's at 6:30, huh? You can get there by jumping rooftops anyway."

Obito finished the fried rice, looked at the clock and nodded as Inosuke broke back into the living room with, thankfully, a pair of brown shorts on.

"FEED ME!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

Obito hit the floor in an alleyway and walked out, startling a nearby passerby.

Dressed in a long-sleeve white shirt, dark slacks, and dress shoes, Obito finished it off with a dark blue hoodie tied around his waist.

Walking down the street, he noticed the crowd and moved past all of them with his invitation in hand.

"Yo! We're over here!" Came Marrone's call from a line of people behind the velvet rope. "He can skip, right? He's with us."

Obito walked over, ignoring the eyes on his back and cheek, and was allowed in via the bodyguard unlatching the rope for him.

"I was expecting you to be the first one here," Marrow said with a grin, dressed in a red dress shirt and black pants combo with white sneakers. "Before you ask, I don't have dress shoes. I didn't think we'd dress fancy before today so I had no time."

"I see, at least you mostly there," Obito responded, getting a dual thumbs up thrown his way before he turned to Liza and Ochre. "Good evening, Liza, Ochre." He nodded at both of them.

"Y-Yeah! Um…" Liza muttered as she picked at her dark blue, short-sleeved, top and a long white skirt that ended off in a pair of white heels. "You look good! I wasn't sure what to wear and my mom sorta just… passed me some of her own clothes."

"It's fine, you look great," Marrone said as he leaned on Obito's shoulder, the other brunette nodding along.

"You look fine, Liza,' she blushed at their compliments and deflected.

"O-Ochre looks great, right?!" she said, almost shouted, as she gestured to the older woman.

Marrone had long since been wowed by her get up but Obito saw the older Adel and actually had to process it.

Her scowl and dodgy eyes did nothing to hide their lavender shade that was exploited to their utmost by her purple, sleeveless, ruffled dress. It had a V-neck that allowed for her cleavage, which she had ample of, to show, and the entire thing had a sash around her waist that accentuated her figure that, with her time in the force, had been hourglass-shaped with a bit more thickness to it.

Her hair was simply more voluminous and bouncier than he was used to.

All together? She looked _amazing_ and Obito was worried about why he cared.

Marrow whistled. "Ya know if Iruka doesn't work o-"

"Celeste, if I hear another word I'll have you doing latrine duty at the Academy," she growled, getting the Faunus to pucker up in horror. "Good, arghh… I shouldn't have let Coco choose for me."

Obito shook away the image of Kushina, the vision's 'Dattebane~' flowing through his ears in a phantom melody that he sighed away.

"You look fine, Ms. Adel," Obito stated with crossed arms and a nod that Ochre reciprocated with a thankful smile that he ignored how much looked like Coco's who, by proxy, looked like Rin's.

He really didn't need all these brown-haired women in his life.

"Alright everybody!" came the megaphone of a Huntsman with green hair. "We'll be letting all of you in an orderly manner!"

Marrone grinned and moved forward before hooking arms with Liza, the dog Faunus blushing as he did so.

"Come on, ladies and gent, we should look as fancy as possible," he said as he and Liza moved forward.

Obito and Ochre watched him, the former raising an eyebrow with the latter pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Hm," Obito grunted as he offered his elbow to the blinking Ochre. "Might as well, we're the only ones _not_ doing so."

He was right, Ochre noted begrudgingly, as all around them couples followed Marrone's actions and the two more serious members of the cop quartet were the only ones.

The older woman sighed before she reciprocated the gesture, the two moving forward right behind Celeste and Carmel.

"Coco never hears a word."

"My lips are sealed."

* * *

The two were woefully unaware of a said girl filming all of the proceedings with her Scroll.

"Hello, nurse~!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

Qrow's eyebrow quirked at the sight of Obito and Ochre, arm in arm, walking into the place. He felt a smirk reach his lips as Obito turned his head, noticed Qrow, and shot him a message.

 _Don't misconstrue this_ , the Huntsman could hear and he shrugged helplessly at the brunette.

Turning away from Obito's possible preference in women, Qrow greeted his fellow Huntsman.

"Sup, Oobleck," he grinned, unclasping a flask from his pocket and taking a swig. "Wasn't expectin' to see you here."

"Qrow?" the green-haired man adjusted his glasses before smiling. "Long time no see! Are you also in the guard detail? Wonderous!"

"He, yeah, I'm keeping an eye out for whatever or whoever decides to crash this party," the Branwen said getting a raised brow from Oobleck.

"Is that what this detail is for?" the other man asked, his rumpled white dress shirt and tan slacks shifting with every instance of Oobleck blurring about. "Why, I say that this many Huntsmen are the usual for openings like this."

"Whoa, whoa, I'm speaking metaphorically here," Qrow said. "You know, like saying I'm hoping for the best but expectin' the worst?"

"Ah! Of course, right you are!" Bartholomew Oobleck stated as he adjusted his glasses. "To be ever vigilant! That is part of what it means to be a Hunter!"

"Yeah, yeah, what are we looking at here anyway?" Qrow asked as the two of them began to walk towards the new museum entrance, the crowd of invited guests clogging the doorway. "Something with, like, a million Lien to its name? Some massive WMD from the past? An old whiskey can? That sounds fun."

"All very wrong!" Bart said as he put his hands behind his back. "Well, not entirely, we've dug up some artifacts from an earlier age. We've been looking into Ruins surrounded by Dust and, I say, those have been some of the most explosive expeditions I've ever been on!"

"Snrk! Yeah, I can imagine."

"That's not all, my friend," Bartholomew's green eyes peered over his glasses as he and Qrow locked eyes.

"There was a special cloth found."

"What, old clothes? What's so special about it?" the drunker Huntsman's eyes narrowed.

"That's just it! They're not _dusty_ clothes at all!"

"They were Dust woven cloth that has no signs of the passage of time on them!"

Qrow's eyes went wide.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"Okay, what the hell is this?" Marrone asked as the line of people was allowed free reign to travel the pathways until they were gathered for the main events.

"It looks like a picture of a platypus… Grimm?" Liza said unsurely as they looked at the painting with confusion.

"It looks more like a demon than an animal."

"Yuh-huh."

* * *

"Thank you, Midoriya," Ochre said as she tapped her heels on the floor. "I needed to get away from all those people."

"It's fine, Coco doing your fashion for tonight may have been a bad idea."

Wasn't that an understatement?

Time and time again, the two were besieged by random men coming up to compliment Ochre on her looks. The sneer Obito had seen some of them throw his way had been utterly baffling.

So Ochre had made the executive decision of having them take the first chance to get away from all the people and here they were, by the bathrooms.

"I'm never letting her get me in this get-up again."

"Unless it's for Iruka."

"Yeah, unl- _Don't_ ," Obito smirked a bit, the tease garnering a glower from the beautiful cop.

Obito's concept of romance was skewed, bartered with maturity, and demolished within his time in the Elemental Nations.

He knew he could never be seduced in this life, not likely, but the fact he can still consider Ochre a beauty left him feeling the slightest bit conflicted.

The idea of romance wasn't one he entertained throughout most of his lives, he simply didn't have the time, wasn't for it, or too old.

Now he was every one of them and that set him apart from most of his peers by a large margin, especially those in his age bracket.

Too immature to even consider, knowing nothing about the world that he'd despise every bit of any possible consideration, not even in adulthood.

There were an assortment of reasons to ignore Coco's, Melanie's, and Elizabeth's advances.

Were it an actual adult, at this point in time, which came onto him, he'd have them arrested.

Quite frankly, his options were zero and he wasn't bothered by that fact until right just now.

Love as a Sin seemed amazingly appropriate right now.

As he and Ochre moved throughout the museum, scantily pointing out items of interest to one another, Obito felt a slight bit more miserable and he couldn't fathom why.

God, puberty just couldn't leave him well alone. He never thought he could be eager and hate the approach of his 21st birthday.

Eager to get over this.

Hate because he still hadn't learned enough to kill Kojiro.

Making their way past a few more exhibits, the duo heard the intercom screech to life.

-"Ladies and gentlemen! Please come to the main hall, it's time for the main event!"-

 _ **~NRK~**_

Coco grinned as she watched Qrow speak with some green-haired guy before that dude went inside.

She watched the Huntsman fail at flirting with an annoyed Huntress before she noticed something out of her peripheral.

What was that light?

 _ **~NRK~**_

Meeting up with their Faunus teammates, the group made their way towards the main hall. A large group of moving people made finding it easy.

They entered and found themselves a corner of the room to watch the proceedings.

"I hope the night has been treating you well!" said the announcer, a woman standing on a tall pillar with a pinstripe suit and large mask, on one of the large pillars in the room. "Tonight we will be seeing several pieces of new old artifacts that our resident archeologist, Bartholomew Oobleck! Huntsman and teacher at the famous, Beacon Academy!"

Out came a man in archeologist gear, green hair, and glasses. The crowd clapped as the man bashfully scratched the back of his head.

"He's found very interesting pieces of old world items in the depths of Mistral and we'll begin with this one!" she gestured to the middle of the room, the lights shut off with a lone one on a single space where a case sat..

It was a long piece of brown cloth that looked like a scarf with several intri- those were _Runes!_

His breath caught and his eyes looked around at the others, Liza and Marrone looking on in curiosity but Ochre…

She gripped the inner part of her elbow, her eyes wide as she stared at the relic.

"Some of you might be wondering, 'How's this a relic? It looks brand new!' and you'd be right to think so but that assumption is _wrong_! Professor?"

"Thank you!" came Oobleck's voice as he attached a mic to his collar before looking at the crowd. "Welcome to you all but I'll keep this short."

"This piece was found in an old temple in Mistral, an eroded stone alter it seemed. I wasn't sure about it, perhaps it had been someone else's clothing but when I went to look at it, I was astonished!"

"The cloth was completely and utterly unharmed! Not a single nick or tear! I thought to look around but found no one around. For such a thing to be in such condition was utterly jarring but just as much as it was fascinating!" he stated as he looked at the casing where the cloth was held.

"I did tests, numerous tests, from spilling water to passing dirt and, alas, not a stain in sight but I find that it all fell to the floor!"

The crowd muttered, some in confusion, some in disbelief, while few were amused by the man's tone and mannerisms.

Obito was more than just a little bit horrified by such a blatant target.

"I can't imagine what this object is! Yet, I'm sure that with time we will further our knowledge and learn more about the past than we ever could before!"

The crowd clapped, Obito frigidly following along. He looked around the room, eyes the only thing on his face moving, to every corner of the room.

His eyes flashed red, the pupils sweeping across the room quickly before turning back to those dark silver pools.

He digested what he'd seen and knew who it'd be.

What irony that the announcer would be in Orichalcum? Not just that, he could see small glowing bodies scattering around the room.

If his magic knowledge, those in the usual fantasy books and what he'd learned recently, was right, those were familiars.

The group was quiet now as the announcer brought up the next item of interest.

"This one, another ge-"

There was the crack of glass and a rain shower of shards that caused a panic.

"Why hello there, ladies and gents!" came the voice of none other than Roman Torchwick, the man's grin plastered on for all to see as he fell onto the pillar where the announcer was, the woman staring at the thief in shock. "I see you have something interesting here!"

"Lemme hold onto that fer ya!" He exclaimed as his cane was pointed forward and smoke exploded outward into the crowd. "Hahaha! Nab it!"

Obito's group was already moving, Ochre had long since dropped her heels and pulled a gun from a leather band on her thigh.

Liza copied the action as Obito and Marrone's shirts were popped open.

"Team 7, stop him!" Ochre ordered with a gunshot that had the thief jumping away from the announcer pillar, the cane trailing smoke behind him.

"Come on!" Marrone said to Obito as the two of them ran forward, Liza and Ochre covering their backs as they ran into the smoke.

Obito's eyes burned red in the smoke, thankful for the cover of smoke, as he searched for Roman's signature-

His eyes widened as Marrone's ears perked, the duo jumping back as the smoke split in front of them.

Obito narrowed his eyes on the dark purple cloaked figure in front of them, a waif of a thing that turned its hood towards them.

Obito's eyes widened when he saw a metal face before bending backward over the spear coming out its mouth.

"Damn it!" Marrone said as his hands shot out, purple string shot forward towards the doll before they were severed. "What?!"

"Get down!" Obito said as he tackled the Faunus, a blade of wind shooting above them. "There's more of them!"

There was a clamber of metal against metal as five cloaked puppets hit the floor. The one that they'd encountered rescinded its arm, a blade of light blue energy flaring out before dying down.

"Thanks," Marrone said under his breath as his Aura strings formed around his knuckles. "Take the three small ones and I'll deal with the big bastards."

Obito nodded. " **Havoc** ," he uttered as a black blade formed in the human brunette's hand.

"Heh," Marrone smirked.

"Now!" they lunged.

* * *

Qrow ducked a swing from the gorilla shaped robot, its trunk-like arm cut off by Harbinger in one smooth slice of its scythe form.

"Tsk! How's it looking over there?!" Qrow shouted to a nearby Huntress, the woman's hatchet carving up the side of a large saber tooth tiger robot.

"More of them around the perimeter!" she shouted as her hatchet shot back into her hand via a purple glow. "Where the hell did they come from?!"

"Qrow!" he turned to see Coco running towards him before pointing up. "Up top!"

Red eyes turned to the museum building, eyes narrowing as the lights flailing around the building flashed past the edge of the roof.

He grimaced at the shadowy figure waving their hands around.

"I'm gonna go up top, keep this area clean! Coco!" the Branwen said as he ran towards the building before leaping onto the wall protrusions. He continued this trend as he kept an eye on that figure, circling around to catch them from behind.

"Already on it!" the girl ran towards the entrance before disappearing behind the museum's doors.

He landed silently on the roof, Aura dampening his steps, and hunted.

He could hear sounds, the whirring of machinery and taut string, as he prowled about the rooftop. He snuck directly behind the potential source of the problem, hiding behind an air vent.

Peeking around it, he stared at the machine.

It looked like a printing press, with mechanical arms moving from the tread to another box like machine with paintings that were lobbed inside.

A ruckus later and out came another one of those stupid robots, this time another gorilla.

'What on Remnant's unholy earth?!' he thought in shock as the machine popped out on all four.

An orb above the machine shot a string of light out at the thing and it sprung to life. It pounded on it chests and stomped around before leaping off the rooftop, the string following it. Now that he looked at, Qrow could see numerous strings coming from the orb that spread out towards all sides of the building.

"What the hell is this?"

"A bastard who's stealing my shit," came a voice besides the Huntsman who swung on the person in question.

A hand rested on his forearm, stopping his swing along with a hurried 'shhhhh!' from the cloaked person.

"Seriously! Shush! You want that thing to hear us?!" the Gideon whispered harshly to the frowning Huntsman who dislodged the crazy man's arm from his person and turned on him fully.

"Who the hell are you?! I know you aren't on the detail!" he said, looking at the cloak on the other male. "You're one of _them_ , I see. I got a couple of questions."

"Yes, yes, suspicious man but now's seriously not the time," Gideon said with a grimace. "We need to stop that thing, _pronto_ , capiche? It's seriously bad news!"

"Why should I believe you?" Qrow inched away as much as he could from the Orichalcum member. "I told yer friends what'd happen the next time we meet."

"No! You're not listening!" Gideon stomped. "That thing is going to get _worse_ the more time we leave it on! We have to destroy it!"

"Tell me what I want to know first!"

"I already told you!"

"Just spit it out!"

"You dumb c-!"

A shadow was cast above the two bickering men causing them to freeze before slowly turning their heads upwards.

The eagle head looked down at them as its paws crept over the side of the air vent.

"Ah-"

"-Fuck!"

The two jumped away from a claw swipe.

* * *

Liza focused on Obito, the former ninja dodging out of way at the perfect moments for her to shoot with a call of 'Mark!'

She looked around, ears flagging to the sides as she did.

Her nose twitched, the various smells of perfume and cologne, with slight difficulty, were weeded out until only Roman's remained.

She looked around and spotted the thief hiding in the rafters, a grimace sitting on the man's face.

She took her shot, startling him enough that he fell down to the museum floor.

"Fuck!" he shouted as he landed on his back, the crack of stone and pebbles greeting him, and hissed as he got up.

Turning to look at Liza, he found the barrel of a gun leveled on him and spun his cane just in time to intercept a bullet.

"I seriously do not have time for this, Puppy! Get outta my way," he growled as he got to his feet, bashing another bullet aside. "Fine! We'll do this the ye ol' fashion way!"

His cane aimed. "Engarde!" he clicked down on his trigger.

"Yikes!" Liza squeaked as she dodged to the side.

* * *

Ochre focused on both battles, her eyes trailing on Liza more than the two males.

She focused on Roman, the thief's cane was going to be a problem and, if what she knows of him is true, then he was more of an unlicensed Huntsman instead of just a thief.

She slipped some bullets from her bra and loaded them into her gun.

She crouched, both hands on the gun' handle before she clicked the trigger.

Her feet dug into the ground as the Heavy Concentrate Gravity Dust did its job.

* * *

Two shots later and Roman sighed into the engagement.

'The cops? Of _course_ , the COPS!' he thought with a grimace as the Faunus took aim once more but dodged as he shot at her.

Cops without Aura was the usual but, knowing Obito's face, he knew to be more careful.

Seemed like Puppy here was the odd one out, maybe. She did go after him, after all, and if you knew his record but still tried? Well, he'd award guts points if nothing else.

He made to shoot once more, keeping the canine Faunus off her feet before he turned to Ochre-

His body trembled at the shot, aching in his side even through his Aura.

"The hell?!" he screamed as he hit a knee. "That wasn't a normal bullet! Fuck!"

Three more shots from Liza hit him in the shoulder, knocking the thief back.

"Tsk! The things I do for love, gods!"

"Sup, asshole!"

"Oh come on!"

* * *

Obito's blade cut through the puppet's arm, the dark blade in his hand coming up to block the energy blast coming out of the severed limb, the flat side elongating into a greatsword wide enough to cover his shoulder.

His feet skid against the stone floor as he shot back before ducking under a slash of wind that cut through the pillar behind him.

The former shinobi jumped to the side as the halves fell, throwing up dust.

Obito's eyes winced for a moment before he looked in the direction of the puppets.

" **Havoc!** " he shouted, hand pointed in the trio's direction, launching a swathe of black flame at the robots.

Fire, wind, and energy, shot to meet his blast causing an explosion that cleared the cloud of dirt and dust.

His sword, still in its larger state, came up and blocked the jump attack from the fire puppet. It's handaxe of fire slamming into his sword before dissipating completely.

Obito spun, sword coming out from underneath the metal doll before his leg planted itself in the doll's chest to send it hurtling into a pillar across the room.

He leaped after it, sword arcing around to cut it in twain only to find a blade of wind in his way.

He grit his teeth.

* * *

Marrone could officially say this night was a bust, regardless of how well it started.

He held his hand out, red thread shot forward piercing the large robot's chassis and not doing a damn thing as it continued to surge forward at him.

"Crap!" he jumped back and swung his hand back, the thread pulling out of the gorilla in a claw-like pattern that left the doll with a gaping hole in it. "Progress, I guess."

He rolled to the side as the second one attacked him, bringing its arm around in a swing that carved up the wall behind him.

He rolled into an upright position kneeling on the floor, thread of a purple hue marked the ground towards his opponent, causing the crumbled earth on the floor to wrap around its body.

It hit a knee and Marrone's other hand came forward with Aura strings of a blue color to freeze it but gave up the opportunity to not get smashed by the other harmed robot.

"Gods, can you two just die already!" he shot his hands forward.

He eyed Obito's situation and cursed at the brunette dancing in and out of bladed elements.

He turned back to the- fist meet face.

WHAM!

 _ **~NRK~**_

Qrow wasn't having a good time as he dodged a swipe of the griffon's claw before slicing towards its chest and being rewarded a scar across its chestplate.

Only to, once again, see it close up.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed as he jumped onto another outcropping on the roof. "Anytime now!"

"I get it! I'm working!" Gideon shouted back from the side of the building, thread forming a ball in his hands. "Ungrateful!"

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you worse!" the cloaked member shouted back as the ball formed and he lobbed it at the griffon, the ball exploding outward to grip the robotic griffon's limbs and tying them together.

Qrow took the chance to slice at its head, the metal screeched as he dragged his scythe across its neck before lopping the mechanical creature's top off.

The metal faded into dust as the two turned back to the machine, a familiar-looking image being pulled towards the machine that created the robot dolls.

Gideon swung his thread outward, the strings latching onto the arms and slicing through them.

The Huntsman sighed as the arms hit the floor and the machine stopped printing but the orb above it was still shining bright.

"How do we stop it?"

"If I'm sure about it, this thing only has so many puppets left," Gideon answered as he cricked his neck. "I've never done puppetry like this so I don't know."

"Just great."

Qrow hoped Obito had already done away with any that came near.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Obito finished off the energy wielding puppet with a beheading, the other two element-wielding puppets lunging at him.

He flicked his nodachi upwards, the slice lopping off the arm of the fire puppet causing it to stumble past him as he slammed his blade down on the wind puppet.

The sound of gunshots reached his ears as the puppet's head flew backward, Obito turned to see Coco grinning at him before she turned to help Liza and Ochre.

Obito smirked as he cut down the fire puppet with a slash at its back.

* * *

Marrone's Aura strings glowed yellow as they shot towards the bulky robots, the two lumbering out the way.

"Not today!" his hand shot back before curling around to his chest.

The yellow strings angled sharply, shooting into the sides of the hulking metal dolls.

"An electric finish!" the tiger Faunus announced as electricity exploded about the two hulking heaps of metal before they fell to the floor, metal melted all about them.

Marrone grinned.

"Nothing to it!"

 _ **~NRK~**_

Roman had been having a moderately normal day and then that stupid phone call happened.

He really should have just let the kid handle it.

He was, thankfully, back on his feet and swerving in and out of gunfire, his eyes full of determination as he kept Ochre in his sights. He didn't need another surprise coming out of her.

He spun his cane to deflect two of Coco's gunshots before he pulled it behind his back and clicked the trigger.

Coco jumped out the way of the bullet, the shot hitting the floor and causing a small crater.

Roman tipped his cap as Liza ran out of bullets and pulled a knife from beneath her dress.

Good ol' cops and their weaker weapons, good times.

He looked at Ochre and grimaced immediately as she assumed a kneeling shot.

He saw it coming a mile away and was prepared this time as he took the same stance in an instant and shot at the same time she did.

He'd expected his shot to fail but he didn't need it to beat whatever she was firing.

He just needed the smokescreen.

The concentrated Dust bullet plowed through his fire Dust one and the explosion filled the area with heat and smoke.

He dodged Ochre's bullet and ran into the cloud, clicking on a button on the side of his cane handle to release more smoke. He needed to focus on what he came here for.

The long cloth Bart had been talking about, whatever it was, his current 'employers' wanted it in exchange for helping Neo.

He… if he could get her better sooner, he'd bite that bullet.

'Sorry brat but I gotta look out for _us_ and not you,' he thought as he made for the case. Getting to it, he found it on its side and empty?

"Where the hell is it?!"

"Ya mean this?" came the voice of Coco, a grin on her face as she held the brown cloth in her hands. "I figured you'd want it so I did the same thing and nabbed it before ya."

"I'm gonna appeal to your better nature and ask ya nicely, 'Please give me that crap, I need it.'" he held his hand out.

"Hmmmmm, no." Coco thought over with fake seriousness. "How about, _I_ tuck this bad boy away-"

She'd wrapped it around her neck as she spoke and froze.

"… Uh, Coffee Bean? You in there?" Roman asked with fake concern before strutting over with a hum. " _Well_ , if you're not gonna use th- Whoa, what the fuck?!" he jumped back, staring at her in disbelief.

"I know not who you are," Coco spoke, in her hand was a thin, long, double-sided blade. "But understand, you will _not_ leave here alive should you chance conflict with me."

Coco looked him in the eye and Roman stared back at Coco's silver eyes.

"…okay…" Roman stepped back as white marks fell down Coco's eyes forming a pair of upside-down horns. "That's a new 'look' you got going on there, Cacao."

"Cacao?" she looked confused at the word. "I… feel I should know that name but you will address me as you should."

"I am Ottiline Adel, the true heir of the noble Adel bloodline, the greatest archers across this bleak land."

Roman stared at her, eye to eyes, and had little more to say than, "What?"

"Who are you? A trespasser? Hmm?" she looked around as the smoke cleared and frowned. "Where are we? This doesn't look like the manor."

"Coco!" came a voice behind her, she turned to the voice to find a young man.

A young man with dark silver eyes.

"You…" she turned to Obito completely, the reincarnated young man stopping entirely as their eyes met. "You have dark silver eyes," she observed him before speaking once more.

"We have much to talk about, my Dark Brethren," she said with a smile that caught Obito off-guard. "With time, we will be the ones to shoot down the gods themselves."

"Who…" Obito's grip on his dark blade tightened. "Who are you? Where's Coco?"

"Hmmm? I'm not sure who that is," Otilline said with a frown, the blade in her hand brought forth to rest against Obito's. "It seems you two are in the know about someone I don't know."

Obito frowned as the relic from the exhibit hung around Coco's neck and slowly began to turn translucent. Their swords resonating in such a way that 'Coco' looked amused.

"Yes, we are quite a m-"

"Mine!" Roman's hand gripped the cloth, the distracted Coco turning on a dime with her sword raised.

'No time, crazy!' he thought as he pulled, the cloth coming loose easily from its hastily made knot.

He watched her eyes change in slow motion, the white sword dimming as more cloth was pulled. The weapon wouldn't reach him.

And it didn't as it cut the air between them, the cloth splitting into two right before the thief's eyes.

He kicked off, gaining some distance as the girl collapsed to her feet before leaping onto one of the remaining pillars in the room.

"Fun times, people, but I have places to be!" he shot them a smug salute before breaking through a window. "Now!"

There was a second shattering of glass before the group was left in silence, the fighting outside now apparent to all inside the museum.

"Coco!" Ochre's hurried steps accompanied her call as she dropped down to Coco's level, the girl held in Obito's arms as the two looked at her.

Her eyes were half-lidded, the consciousness not there in her brown and silver eyes.

Ochre's mouth tightened into a thin line as Obito checked Coco's pulse.

He sighed as he thought over the last few minutes.

'Dark Brethren,' he frowned at the words she'd said to him.

He looked down at the girl who reminded him so much of Rin.

Coco, who were you?

 _ **~NRK~**_

The rest of the police were called in and Team 7 found themselves explaining to Larry the entirety of the situation with Qrow adding his input.

"Man," the sandy-haired man scratched his head with his pen. "That sounds whack! Who'd do something like this? Also, didn't you say _Torchwick_?"

"What is it with you guys and your bad luck?"

Marrone slumped as Liza messed with her fingers.

" **We wish we could tell you** ," they said in unison getting a shake of the head from Butz.

"What about you?" he turned to Obito, the brunette had his arms crossed in thought. "Um, dude? Obi Dude?"

"Hm?" Obito looked up at Larry before frowning. "Apologies, what was the question?"

"Man, you're _all_ out of it," the on-the-job cop muttered as he and Obito turned to look at Ochre sitting on a bench with an unconscious Coco. "Right when you're about to come back to work, sucks, huh?"

"I'm unsure of how to feel about any of this," Obito admitted as his gaze went from Ochre to Coco. "All I know is that I feel like my days as a cop are going to be more complicated from here on out."

"Totally dude."

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _She dreamed… at least, she thinks she is._

 _There were brown walls with white trim and yellow accents, not a bad mix actually. It was almost the same color as her outfit._

 _Speaking of outfit, looking down, she saw she was dressed to impress it seemed._

 _A tan dress shirt with a dark brown ruffle at the collar and large diamond-shaped crosshairs on her wrist cuffs._

 _Nice and tight black shorts that flared out at the ends while also leading down into tall0073boots._

 _A Victorian fit? Did she own something like this?_

" _Ms. Adel?" she looked up as she heard her name._

 _A maid, oh she needed to remember her name._

 _Wait, who was this? Her sis was many things but rich wasn't one of them._

" _It's fine, Clarissa, come," she began to walk past the servant. "Father and Mother await me."_

 _Father? Dad and Ma were dead to her so why was she saying her parents were waiting?_

 _Walking down the halls, she saw a window and took a peak-_

 _What the hell?! Why were there mountains outside?! Where was she?!_

 _They were green and brown in color, reaching high into the sky… yet, far off in the distance-_

 _She turned back, facing forward, as they walked past tapestry after tapestry with diamond-shaped crosshairs._

 _A large empty circle with triangles at all four corners pointing outward, all of them white in color on black tapestry._

 _That was a strange symbol but why?_

 _Why did it feel like she'd seen it before?_

 _They walked for a bit before she found herself in front of large double doors._

 _Besides wondering what she was doing here she had to wonder who needed doors_ this _cliché._

" _I'll be waiting, Miss."_

 _She pressed her hand against the doors and they opened with little problem?_

 _Obito had said she could punch holes in cement… she'd never_ tried _yet but, hey, look at her go._

 _When opened, the doors revealed a large room. Like, ridiculously large. SUPER large._

 _She walked in and Coco thought over everything she'd just seen as she saw that, inside, there was a pair of thrones._

 _One large and one smaller one on its side, in them sat a couple that froze Coco's heart._

 _The man was staring back at her with his silver eyes, his square jaw, narrow face, and swept-back brown hair, painted a handsome image._

 _But it wasn't him who she froze upon seeing, it was the woman in the big throne._

 _Her eyes were a dark silver that peered down at Coco with such impassivity the young girl doubted she was even alive for a moment. That train of thought died though as the woman's large wings, white color and complete with feathers, spread out._

 _Feathers fell above the throne as her wings glowed and she got up. Her short frame touching the floor after she did, five feet at best._

 _Coco wanted to laugh, she wanted to so hard but this woman terrified her to no end._

 _She walked towards Coco, her white hair falling past pale skin down to her modest chest in slight curls. Her dress was a simple grey thing that flared out at the end near her scaled feet._

 _Coco didn't see her anymore and wonder why until she realized she was looking at the floor._

 _Was she kneeling? When had she- why was she kneeling?!_

" _Raise your head, my child."_

 _Coco's entire being froze even as her body looked up at the woman, her proportions more telling than her face did her age._

" _Mother?" Coco's lips spilled the question as she looked at the woman in confusion._

 _This woman was her_ mother _?_

" _Do you know why you are here?" the woman asked, face still impassive._

" _No?"_

" _It's almost time," she said as she walked back to her throne, the floor made little sound as she did. "Soon, you will take the responsibility as family head."_

" _In a month's time, you will become the Lichte of the Adel family."_

" _Of course," Coco uttered, a feeling of joy enveloping her entire being from the forehead down. "Of course, I will. I will lead the family to your standard." Coco's body bowed a bit but the girl finally found release from this weird dream as she felt herself separate from her body._

" _Ugh!" the girl was on her butt and staring up at a familiar image. "Why the hell am I seeing this?"_

 _The dream stopped altogether as 'Coco' turned to herself, a frown on the dream's Coco's lips._

" _Because this is you," she pointed at Coco. "These are_ your _memories…_ Our memories. _"_

 _Coco stared back at her mirror image as the dream turned back to its normal colors._

" _Ottiline Adel," her mother spoke causing the two to look at her. "That said, your training is still incomplete."_

" _To become the Arrow That Pierces is to push your ability to unknown heights that will take training that will continue throughout your tenure as Lichte."_

" _The Sword That Cuts has been destroyed, the Shield That Defends is barely a fraction of what they should be, We're all our Queen has left and we will NOT fail."_

" _Twenty years, yes?" 'Ottiline' responded as she looked at her parent. "A short amount of time."_

 _The current Adel matriarch nodded._

" _With your affinity for Light it was only natural," the small woman shook her head._

" _A pity your sister couldn't contribute."_

 _Coco was on her feet in a second._

" _Where's my sister?!" she shouted but no one heard._

 _A glow emanated from her mother's head, pushing the bangs aside to reveal her forehead._

 _Coco saw a glowing letter on the shorter female's head when the world turned grey once more and froze._

" _ **Wunjo**_ _," the other her said, catching Coco's attention. "I spent_ years _learning the runic alphabet, the archery, the family bloodline… EVERYTHING!"_

 _Wind blew from somewhere, Coco didn't know, behind the other her._

" _And_ she _took it away from me! Away from_ us! _"_

 _Coco didn't understand! Who the hell was she talking about?!_

" _Isn't it obvious?!" Ottiline sneered at Coco, the other girl frowning back. "That heathen you call a sister! Ottilie!"_

" _She took it all from US!"_

 _Coco's world turned black as a bright sigil formed at the back of the brown-haired girl's neck._

 _ **~NRK~**_

She shot up from her bed with a gasp as she pinched her eyes clothes at the slight headache she felt.

"Blargh!" she groaned before covering her mouth and leaping from her bed to the bathroom.

"BBLLAAEERRGGHHH!"

She felt no dignity at that moment, simply nausea.

She was thankful for her clean habits and self-control because, as she finished blowing chunks into her toilet, she hugged it.

'Ugghh… what happened to me?'

She didn't remember.

Wait, she had a few things.

Going into the museum to help out Obi and the others. Fighting Torchwick a bit and stopping him from stealing the old thing.

Then…. Nothing.

What happened?

She grimaced as the smell of her own sick reached her and snapped her out of her daze.

Through the haze and slight headache, she couldn't stay like this.

She wobbled into her room, stripped, grabbed a towel and went back to the bathroom and turned on the shower.

The warm water soothed her and she was displeased with it ending so soon as she shut off the water leaving steam waiving in the air.

She stood there for what felt like an eternity but was really only about five minutes before stepping out.

Water dripped down her form and she turned to her mirror, wiping away some of the fog on it to get a good look at herself.

She didn't look off, in fact, she felt fine after that little spell.

Spell… she shook her head and, with slight deliberation, turned her head and parted her hair.

On the Adel's nape sat a black dot, a birthmark Coco remarked.

Ochre had one too, saying that it was their family mark. Coco never really thought about it much before but now?

It bothered her. The sight sent a shiver up her skin for reasons she couldn't fathom.

She dropped her hair and toweled off, the time she spent out of the shower making the job a little easier.

After that, she was dressed in her brown Teddie and cycling through her Contacts.

"Right…. There!" She landed on Obito's name and clicked on it.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Obito sat in his living room with the others when Coco called.

Obito eyed the caller ID, raised a brow, and shot the others an excuse as he walked to his room.

His room was simple, a large square bed, a desk with a comfortable gaming chair, and a set of dressers with a closet in the corner.

Taking a seat at his desk, he picked up on her second call.

"Coco?" he asked as he leaned back.

-Hey Obi.- he frowned at her tone.

Was something wrong?

"Is something wrong?"

-... Not, really? I'm kind of confused.-

"About what?"

-Obito… What happened after I stopped Torchwick from stealing that scarf thing?-

He stopped, his grip on his armrest tightening as he remembered the 'Coco' from earlier.

"I'm not sure myself," he admitted. "You seemed like a different person, Coco. I'm not sure what was happening."

-...-

"Coco?"

-Nah, it's nothing… Hey, Obi?-

"Yes?"

-You mind if I come over some time? I mean, no offense if you don't wanna but we never really get to hang out. Mono e Mano.-

Obito stared at the wall in confusion.

Coco wanted to hang out with him? What?

-Obi?-

"... It's nothing… I guess, if you want to," Obito answered. "I'm unsure of how you want to do this but I'm here. Just let me know."

-Thanks, I mean it.- she said.

He ended the call and went back out with the others.

Spending time with Coco? The last time he'd done that alone had been sometime after they'd first met at that coffee shop, he believed.

As he sat down on the couch with the mattress fortress of blankets and pillows in front of him with the others on it, Obito felt himself being in a lull.

He was neither feeling good nor bad.

Just kind of neutral.

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **That wraps up chapter 16 and paves the way for the next on its coattails.**_

 _ **Obito in this fic is, for lack of a better term, sad over a missed childhood in the fullest sense.**_

 _ **I imagine he had that moment at the end of Naruto where he remembered all he'd deluded himself into thinking was for the best and realized how much time he'd honestly lost.**_

 _ **Even in Remnant, most of his childhood is dominated by his time in a tribe of bandits. Nothing about him screams 'Happy childhood' and he's noticing it.**_

 _ **Obito Uchiha is one who drones on the past as he deals with his current predicaments because he should be living it but has once again, by a man of unknown age and power, lost it and his power to have control over it.**_

 _ **I've looked it up and Obito obviously has cPTSD from the Elemental Nations in his childhood and it affects less now but still.**_

 _ **I'm not going to delve THAT deeply into it but it frames Obito well.**_

 _ **Words: 8.2k+**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	18. Dust in the Light

_**~NRK~**_

He watched her bring it into existence once more, the large blue rapier trembling in her hands as electricity ran up the blade.

His eyes narrowed as his Sharingan sprung to life, watching the flow of the weapon.

Was this an Enchanted Blade? Or was it some organic matter that Bradley had created?

He hadn't thought about the homunculus in a while and was worried about all the events that happened in succession that took his attention away.

They had to be related, Obito surmised. Otherwise, it was too coincidental to be random circumstance.

He was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of wood impacting steel, Velvet's hold on the weapon had given out and the electrified rapier now sat against the floor before it broke into motes of blue light.

Her eyes winced at the burns decorating her hands, the wounds healing slowly to her eyes before she saw only raw skin as the reward for her attempt.

"Velvet," Obito started, catching the Faunus's attention. "Is there a limit to your Semblance?"

"I… I don't know," she admitted. "I can remember everyone's weapons perfectly and use my Aura to make them but it takes so much that I can't hold it for too long."

"Does it depend on the size? Complexity? Just the fact it's other people's weapons?"

"…" she looked confused, a frown pulling at her lips. "I-I… I've never really checked… I'm sorry."

"Velvet, it's fine," Obito reassured her. "Remember, 'It's better late than never', so learn from this and keep moving forward."

She looked up at him, that admiration in her eyes, before nodding.

Obito had an idea.

"Do you remember the sword that was in my hands that day?" he asked, getting her to jump before slowly nodding. "Try projecting that."

She nodded once more and held her hands out, eyes closed.

She remembered the length, about six feet, taller than Obito with its handle included.

The blade's color was black with a red edge and weird eyes on the side that confused her.

A sword glowed into being, simply the color of her Aura, brown. Then, it gained the details.

The handle with its red leather, the guard was circular, and the blade followed.

His Sharingan traced every step of the process, the frame was first, than the engraving. Every part of this process was done by an outline and then it formed the real world details.

She held it in her hands, looking down the blade in her two-handed grip and breathed slowly as she took test swings.

Then she shocked the youngest of the Branwen siblings.

" **Tsubame,** " she held the blade straight in front of her, the stance eerily similar to Obito.

"Wai-!"

" **Otosh-** Ah!" she lowered the slightest centimeter, pushing back with her right foot that pushed her momentum forward in a high speed push before she brought her blade down and crumbled.

Obito was by her side in a second, watching as she winced as his sword copy dropped out of her hands.

"Velvet," he held her up with one arm as he watched her winces slow to a crawl. "Listen, that technique you saw me use."

"Under no circumstances can you use that technique," she stared at him in confusion before red crawled up her face. "Velvet?"

"Ah!" she jumped out his arms before shuffling away. "Sorry!"

He shot her a raised brow before shaking his head and getting to his feet.

"I see, I'd like to make the same attempt," he said, catching her attention. "We've seen me attempt to create my blade from my Semblance but it's so undefined." He looked down at his hands.

He remembered what Coll had said about his energy balance and how this 'Enchantment' wasn't supposed to be physical like this.

The word made him think over how the technique was supposed to be used and he reminded himself to retrieve his blade from Qrow, the older Huntsman having told him that he had the weapon.

That said, Obito wondered if his Enchantment followed the same rules as the other magic.

Did repeated use make it stronger? How could he tell? Was it by the definition in the weapon? He didn't know, this was still a fresh thing.

He held one hand outstretched in between him and Velvet.

" **Havoc** ," he muttered, getting a shiver from the Faunus girl as black flames spiraled into existence in the palm of his hand.

Obito's eyes burned red, the Sharingan watching the weapon and repeating the steps of Velvet's weapon creation.

Black outlines began to form the weapon, the basic structure, and then it formed all the intricate details first.

Then he filled in the rest, the nodachi forming in its entirety.

He looked it over, the weapon now far more detailed than before.

So it was more like that than forming it on the spot?

Interesting.

What else could he use with this technique?

 _ **~NRK~**_

"Welcome back, buddy! I know last night wasn't exactly… great," Larry said with a grin as Obito and he walked out the station.

"It's what it is, Larry. Speaking of, I guess the others took off early."

"Yeah, real urgent call some time ago and I told 'em I'd take you under my wing for today!" he grinned at the junior cop. "As a matter of fact! We're going to be visiting a buddy of mine who works at a firm nearby."

Obito raised an eyebrow.

Larry had an interesting amount of friends it seemed.

* * *

He sat down on a couch with Larry at his side, the senior cop grinning like a loon as the young woman served them some tea.

"I wasn't expecting for Larry to actually have a junior!" she said, her voice high pitched and slightly nasally. "Oooh! Have you been on any big cases yet?!"

"Oof," Larry winced as he looked over to Obito who shrugged and answered.

"A little bit of one, we ran into a terrorist and his cell during the past three weeks," Obito's answer caused her to drop her jaw.

"NO WAY!" her eyes gleamed. "That sounds so cool! Did ya nab the thief coppa?" she shot him a salute.

Cute. "Sadly, no. We came up short both times with no leads to help."

"Aw man," she pouted before turning to the man behind her at a large desk. "Nick! You should have been there! Your super detective skills would have been an ace in the hole!"

"Maya!" she jumped at his ticking eyebrow. "How about we actually work on the files for today's case, huh?"

Phoenix 'Nick' Wright and Maya Fey, two of Larry's friends who owned a law firm that was under the girl's belated sister's name.

Maya was a short woman of 5 feet and two inches with a rather bubbly persona. She was dressed rather… strangely, what with her customized purple outfit that sported a large purple coat and small lavender kimono underneath with prayer beads around her neck.

Maya herself had a fair complexion and hazel eyes that went with her just as dark brown hair with a bun at the top and the rest of her hair falling down her shoulders.

Nick, on the other hand, was everything Maya _wasn't_ , a lawyer in a blue suit and red necktie, where Maya was short, he was tall, about 6 foot 4 inches. Where Maya had long dark brown hair, he had shorter black hair with it being a flat angle off the top of his head ending in straight spikes. With blue eyes versus her brown ones, they made a strange pair.

"Oh?" Larry leaned forward. "You guys gotta case? Wanna get the cops involved?!" Larry stood at attention with a salute. "Officer Larry Aqua Butz is on the case!"

Maya's giggles and Nick's nervous laughter were all that greeted his action.

Then the phone rung, the quartet blinked in unison as Phoenix opened his FlipScroll and held it to his ear.

"Huh?" Larry blinked as his Scroll rang, the man flipping it into his hands before placing it against his ear. "It's me."

As the lawyer took his call, Obito sat back and stared outside at the clear sky.

His mind wandered to Coco, the event at the museum still bothering him.

What happened to her?

 _ **~NRK~**_

She got up that morning with more energy than she expected.

It was one of those mornings, it seemed. Those days where you _felt_ like everything was going to go well and be easy.

She grinned as she shot out of bed and into her bathroom.

The shower was quick and efficient. She turned it off before looking down at her nuptial body and became aware of the fact she didn't bring her towel.

She had to be at VCS by 8:00 am, it was currently 7:15.

She could have just stepped out, it was her room and she didn't hear Ochre. The woman must have been gone already.

She looked down at her hands as Aura flowed through her body. Her form flashed before the water fell off her body immediately, leaving her dry but moist.

She grinned, she'd never thought about doing that! She could take her showers as long as possible!

She stepped out of the tub before looking at her mirror, the glass fogged up.

She raised her hand to clear away the fog before stopping in thought.

Could she do what she'd done in the shower?

Well! No time like the present!

She pressed her hand against the glass, the feeling of condensation against her palm and the smoothness of the glass mixing in her mind.

She brought her Aura forward, the light brown glow forming over her extended hand.

Earlier on in combat school, Aura control hadn't exactly been her best subject. From the teach's mouth, Coco's Aura was quite large, ridiculously so. She had a hard time controlling it at times, usually, it acted like it had a mind of its own.

Over the years, that'd changed though. She got better control as the years passed and she had a decent amount of control now. Enough so that she could push her Semblances for half an hour before tiring.

Her focus on the mirror was ironclad as she slowly let out her Aura, the power pushing the thin water veil away at a constant pace.

She grinned.

Then it went wrong.

To her very eyes, her Aura flashed on and off. The brown glow coming and going like a flickering light that kept her rooted in her spot.

She winced at a buildup of Aura passing down her arm, eyes closed as it reached her hand.

Completely unaware of her Aura's change from brown to a thick cover of bright white before it changed back to brown. Neither did Coco see the girl in the mirror's eyes burn white, a 'P' pulsing on her head as she held her hand to the mirror.

The glass was the victim of her loss of control, her Aura spread out rapidly in a pulse that cracked the glasses, the wall behind it, and shook the sink.

Her eyes were wide as she looked at the damage, mind causing her to rescind her hand as she noted how bad it was.

She'd need to control herself more if she survived Ochre killing her for destroying her bathroom.

Said result was punctuated by a piece of glasses dropping and shattering on the floor.

… She had forty-five minutes.

 _ **~NRK~**_

She walked into class, mind whirling at the morning stuff.

"Ah, Coco," Tanjirou rose from his seat and flagged her down.

She shot him a smile as she walked over and took the seat next to him.

"How's it going, Burns?" she leaned back in her seat as more people came into the classroom, Inosuke's muscled form barging through the door to the seat on Tanjirou's other side, opposite Coco.

"Nothing much, I was thinking of visiting Obito today," he said as he shot Inosuke a nod that the wild boy returned. "I wanted to work on his swordsmanship if he wanted to."

"Hmm, eh," she thought it over for a bit before shrugging. "Obi's the type to focus and overachieve, ya know? I can bet he'll do it."

"That's right, Obito was like that a lot," the boy with the burn mark on his forehead nodded. "He was well-rounded as far back as I can remember."

"Hm?" she looked at the swordsman more intently. "What was he like as a kid? I look at him now and I'm wondering if it was a before and after situation and he was more of a happy-go-lucky dude back then."

Tanjirou sweatdropped. "He's exactly the same." He admitted, getting a snort from the fashionista. "As far as I knew him, he's always been the diligent sort, if a bit standoffish."

"Yeah, I can see that. If what you're tellin' me is true, he seemed like the type to learn nothing _but_ skills in his downtime."

Tanjirou smiled at that. "Yes, thought his cooking is to die for."

She rose her eyebrow at that as Elizabeth entered the classroom with Dalia right behind her.

"Alright class!" the silver-haired woman called for their attention. "Today, we'll be focusing on Aura exercises and technique, please choose your partners so we can move onto the simulation room."

 _ **~NRK~**_

She'd asked Tanjirou due to being more familiar with the teen and getting more info on kiddy Obito.

"Remember, against the wall and practice pushing your Aura!"

The two nodded to Dalia as they went against the rocky cliff face, the other students spreading out all around the place.

"Hmm," Tanjirou hummed for a minute as he pressed a hand against the rock. "Slowly…" he breathed in.

His Aura, a bright blue, pulsed from his hand in a foot wide circle around the extended limb. The pulse didn't do anything at first but, with each passing second, the rock cracked into smooth lines.

Receding his hand, a sun-like crater was formed, a pushed in circle with squiggly cracks spreading out from it.

"It's always a sun, how do you do that?" Coco gripped her chin as she observed his work. "Seriously, you call it Water-Breathing but I can't help but imagine you as 'Sunny', call it a feeling."

"Hahaha," the boy chuckled as he stared at the rock. "My Semblance works with breathing, it's why me, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, are so similar. I don't know any other way to breathe like they do."

"Huh, it is what it is, I guess. Now," she turned to the rock wall. "Let's hope I don't repeat this morning," she said as she pressed her hands against the wall.

"Huh?" Tanjirou said with confusion. "What happened?"

"Tanji," she tightened her gloves with a determined frown. "If things go exactly how I think they are, you'll see in a second." She placed her hands against the rock face.

She didn't disappoint as she brought her Aura to the front, Tanjirou jumped away from the large crack in the wall.

He blinked, staring at the devastation before slowly nodding.

"I see…"

"I don't know what's wrong with me," she said with a pout. "I never had trouble like this before except for when I was younger."

"Younger?"

"Yeah, I had a lot of Aura. We're talking A LOT," she emphasized. "I didn't have enough control."

"So, you believe this can be attributed to a loss of control?" Tanjirou frowned.

"… I don't know," the fashion expert admitted with a shake of the head. "This all started happening after the museum thing."

"Do you know of what might have caused this?"

"Nah, I even asked Obito but all he said was I was acting strange," she frowned, mind foggy from her morning. "I don't remember anything, either, which is worse."

"Hm," Tanjirou closed his eyes in thought. "Whatever it is, I think Obito might be your best bet." She looked at him. "When I was trying to figure out my Semblance, he was able to look at it once and point stuff out. Perhaps, whatever this is, he can also give some insight?"

She shot the boy a puzzled look before shrugging. "Can't hurt. Now, come on, maybe I can figure out some of this with more Aura control practice."

Tanjirou nodded and, once more, the two pressed their hands against the rock face.

 _ **~NRK~**_

She'd been in deep thought when the bell rung and the clamor of student's feet, screeching chairs, and chatter, brought her back to reality.

"Make sure to practice in the meantime!" Dalia shouted as she waved some of the students off, a few coming up to the teacher to speak.

Coco blinked twice before getting up, picking up her weapon, and leaving.

She'd made it out the room and came face to face with Liz.

The two stared at one another, neither's face baring any emotion, before they nodded and walked past each other.

'Glad to see where we stand,' Coco thought as she made for the combat school's entrance.

With the explosive end to their relationship, she and Elizabeth hadn't been on speaking terms all year. Even with this whole mess going on, Coco didn't remember a single time where she and her ex interacted.

Or maybe she chose not to remember, Coco could hold a grudge at times. With relationships, it was just so much more painful of one.

She made it to the entrance before having to stop at a passing student with a stack of Dust in his arms.

"S-Sorry!" he shouted as he hurried past, the dust jars in his arms jingling with every shift in his step.

She nodded him off, the image of the Dust flashing through her mind.

"Ah, right," she knocked her head a bit. "I'm going to need more bullets."

With the recent tango with Torchwick and the manor incident, she'd had to try to make an order that she simply couldn't afford and had been running on offhand bullets from Ochre.

Gianduja, her purse/mini-gun, was such a hungry baby at times but she was _hers_. This girl could shoot targets from 1km with ease even with how big and unwieldy it was. Couldn't get that with most weapons unless they were sniper rifles or marksmen rifles.

She'd gone through a slew of weaponry before choosing Gianduja, favoring ranged weaponry had made the choices plentiful but also hard to narrow down.

She'd wanted power, high fire rate, and precision, handguns had been out and so had most of the longer-range weapons.

Then she had seen a machinegun in a movie and her heart had been set.

Throughout her internal rambling, Coco's feet took her to her location, Dust til Dawn.

Going in, she closed her eyes and breathed.

She never really told anyone this, especially not Ochre, less they give her weird looks and make a couple assumptions about her sexual kinks.

Being around Dust, the sight, presence, etc, made her feel at ease.

At one point, she'd thought it was because of her Semblance but searching the web had given her zero answers for her sitch. She just liked Dust, it seemed.

When she was around it, she felt like she could take on the world and still make it home in time for a dinner date.

But, of all the types, one always stood out to her.

Hard Light Dust. The most expensive stuff on the market next to Gravity Dust.

That stuff was the top of the top, Dust that was manufactured to be a potent Dust that could form structures.

She didn't have the cash for it, not even close. Atlas made most of the stuff anyway and importing from there to here was too much for her allowance to consider.

So she stuck to looking only if she ever saw it but could at least afford the other Dust.

She waved to the shopkeep before going around the store.

She brushed her hand past the Fire Dust, the heat from the crystallized flame warming her hands through her gloves. The Ice Dust did the opposite.

Lightning Dust made her feel excited while Wind Dust made her feel lighter. Dust had an effect on her that she could never explain but she wasn't complaining.

She looked at the small section of Gravity Dust, hand hovering over the glass and felt her Aura flash, startling her.

She stepped back from the case, the Dust glowing worryingly as she looked at her hand.

She frowned at the tan glow, shaking the limb but seeing no change. She looked back at the Gravity Dust and blinked at the dimmed glow.

She walked over slowly, eyes stuck on the case for any minute changes before standing in front of the casing.

Something thrummed in her, was it the Dust? She'd never had Gravity Dust do this to her before. She turned back to the shopkeeper then back to the Gravity Dust.

"Hey, uh, Keep?"

* * *

She made it home, breath wild as she pressed her back against it, wondering why she felt so… guilty.

She was buying _Dust_ for Brothers' sake! What would she feel uneasy for?!

She looked at the bag in her hand, Gravity Dust in powder form. Streamline, cut and ground.

"Ochre!" she shouted into the home, eyes moving from side to side for nail or hair of her sister before sighing. "Okay! Okay…" she breathed in before standing up and walking to her room.

They had a medium-sized, two-story home. Kitchen, living room, and Ochre's room on the first floor. Coco's room on the second, with an empty guest room, attic, and personal bathroom.

She took the stairs in front of the doorway and arrived at her room in quick order before entering and locking the door.

There was a table in the corner of her room, shavings, bullet casings, and design ideas, sat on its surface.

She set all that to the side before taking out the vial of Gravity Dust. The purple powder had a slight glimmer to it as it sat in its vial.

She sat down on a chair and just… _stared_. She watched it.

She wasn't sure what she was looking for.

She just watched it.

She looked at it straight on.

She thought over an idea, a dangerous one.

She closed her eyes and focused on her Aura. The power flashed over her form as she opened her eyes and stared at the Gravity Dust.

She sat up straight, the distance from her and the Dust half a meter as she set it up in the middle of her meter-wide table.

She raised her hand out, Aura bright, and watched.

The Dust glowed brighter at intervals as she lowered and raised her Aura. She didn't understand. Was it her Semblance? She wasn't even using it though.

She blinked as she activated it… it didn't activate. It didn't do anything…

Her Scroll was in her hand in seconds as she remembered Tanjirou's words.

Time for a second opinion.

 _ **~NRK~**_

Obito's ride with Larry was coming to an end as 4 o 'clock was closer and closer.

"Glad we could meet Nick today, it's good to have a lawyer that has your back."

"They were amicable," Obito responded as they exited the police cruiser. "I would like to ta-"

His Scroll rang, the item buzzing in his pocket.

"You can answer it, dude," Larry said as he twirled his keys on one finger. "You're basically done, anyway. Make sure to wear a coat!" The older male walked into the police department with a whistle.

The former shinobi looked up, the grey clouds above getting thicker and darker as time passed.

Obito pressed on the button on his Scroll causing the image of Coco to appear as the adopted man pulling his coat out the back of the cruiser.

"Coco?"

-Obi, ya know how I asked ya if I could come over? Could you come over right now?-

 _ **~NRK~**_

He knocked on the door, Coco having given him the address to her and Ochre's home.

She was already there, opening the door with barely a second between him knocking and her answering.

She looked… fine? She didn't look bothered at all, which made this little visit all the more confusion.

In a casual outfit of a shirt and small shorts, she seemed unchanged from last he saw her.

"Is something wrong?" she gestured to him to come inside, the cop closing the door behind him when he did. "Coco?"

"Obi… how are ya?" she shot him an unsure smile as she led him up the stairs in the middle of the home. "Sorry about this but Burns said you were good at figuring out Semblances."

His eyes narrowed at that. "I'm confused, is something off with yours?"

"Yeah… I think that's a good way of putting it," she said as they got to the second floor and entered her room. "This has been breaking my brain the last hour or so."

"Hour?" Obito shot her a raised brow that caused her to blush.

"Ya see… I didn't even know that much time had passed before I called you," she frowned as she said that. "I don't get like that, ever! So I'm not sure what's up but I _think_ it has to do with my Semblance."

Obito observed her for a moment before speaking. "Show me." She nodded and turned around to the table where a vial of Dust sat.

His Sharingan rotated to life as he etched what he was seeing into his mind and felt everything freeze.

'Why does Coco have TWO SOULS?!' he thought incredulously as she settled by the table, his doujutsu deactivated by the time she ushered him over.

The two lights that flowed throughout her form bounded about her body, one tan and the other white, the white one latching on at times before letting go but both spiraling about at her nape.

He did as gestured to and watched the vial of Dust with Coco.

She told him what had happened and he cupped his chin as he looked at the vial.

"Are you sure it's not just the Dust?" he asked but felt like that was a dumb question with what he'd seen.

"It's not, not unless all the Dust in the shop came like this," she held her hand out to it, the Gravity Dust glowing brighter as she brought her hand closer. "This never happened before and right as my Aura started acting up, this comes along."

There was a crack of lightning, causing Coco to jump and look out the window as small sprinkles of rain began to fall against the glass.

"O-Oh!" she shrieked a bit, the girl closing her eyes as she turned away from the rain. "S-Sorry, little jumpy."

"It's fine Coco," Obito said as he leaned forward a bit. "Hmm."

He eyed the vial and thought back to the museum and Coco's strange behavior back then. Was this a part of that? What did it mean?

The Runes on the cloth flashed in his mind. Did that cloth have something to do with this? The item had been cut in twain but he'd seen part of it sink into Coco's flesh.

"Any ideas?" she asked him and Obito grunted at that.

"So you just raise your hand to it, yes?" she blinked at the question before nodding. "I wonder if this reaction will be the same with me."

He wasn't sure if this was a magic situation but only assume the refined Dust would respond to his presence as well.

Obito raised a hand, Coco watched intently as he did, the two keeping eyes on the Dust as well as Obito's proximity to it.

He reached out slowly, the Dust didn't seem to do anything from a meter away and so he reached more.

More and more he reached and the Dust looked to have nothing happen to it.

Then he was within a foot of it and the usual Dust glow began to die.

The two teens stared at the result as Obito took his hand away and its luster returned.

"Oh,' she seemed relieved, a smile breaking out onto her face. "Was worried something was wrong with me for a second-"

"Coco," Obito said simply, the girl shooting him a worried look at his frowning expression. "Did the Dust respond any kind of way to the shopkeeper?"

"I… I don't know," she said, one eye closed in thought. "I don't think he had Aura though, I can usually tell."

Obito filed away the fact she had slight sensor abilities for a later date. "I…" he didn't finished the sentence.

Did he tell Coco? Was this something he _needed_ to? She was fine without being on this side of the world but he was worried about if this would affect her way of living.

He'd keep this to himself but he'd ask Dalia the next time they met.

There was a flicker of the lights in the room, the lights waning as the rain continued to hit the window.

Then the crack of lightning hit with a large boom!

It reverberated around the room and Obito frowned at both the lights going out and the feeling of another body latching onto his.

He looked down at the shadow holding onto him, the light was out but the shining silver and brown eyes that looked at him shocked him before he noticed her breathing.

He kneeled with her iron grip on his person.

"Coco?" he said quietly, watching her eyes catch his. "What's wrong, Coco?"

There was the sound of a shuddering breath as those eyes moved slightly up and down before they closed.

"Lightning," she got out before breathing in and pushing her face into his chest. "I've always hated it, still do and I don't know why. Too loud I guess."

He frowned, this was beyond a little fear, she was _terrified_ of the weather.

Her grip tightened. "I never understood it but it makes using Electricity Dust difficult."

Obito's frown was full-blown and blatant were it not for the lack of light.

Then, something lit up the room. A purple glow spreading across the room that seemed to mute the lightning.

The two blinked as they looked at the Gravity Dust, the glowing vial brighter than ever before.

Coco was transfixed before another shock of lightning sent her hurtling back into Obito's chest, the Dust's glow brightening as she did.

"…" he understood a bit now, whatever her magic was, it was causing more light to fill the room.

Light. The opposite character to his Darkness derived from Pertho.

* * *

" _Nah, it just goes like a flash…"_

* * *

It wasn't that she couldn't figure out an element, she'd already had it.

It was Light element.

His eyes moved to the Dust. It was also affecting the Dust, so did that mean Dust, the crystallized nature items, were magic?

But, Obito couldn't affect it from this distance while Coco could. Did that mean her Light element was stronger than his Dark? Or did it mean she simply had a longer range? Was it because of the amount of light in the room when they first started?

Obito looked down at Coco, the girl tucked into the left side of his chest with a hand covering an ear, before turning back to the Dust.

His hand reached out, the light never dimming as he did so, so he sent out some of his magic.

The lights dimmed for 10 seconds or so before going back to their brightened state.

He looked to the window, rain pelting the pane, before sighing.

"Come on," he ushered Coco towards her door, the girl latching onto him still. "We should get you as far away from the lightning as possible."

He could feel his marks returning, becoming more detailed and realistic, as he protected her from her fears.

* * *

He watched the pasta boil as he grated some cheese. The feeling of the marks on his cheek, his Sin, thankfully gone.

"… Thanks," Obito heard from behind him as he cooked. "Wasn't expecting you to be in an apron with clothes on and I'll just stop talking, damn that sounded way better in my head," Coco said to the room

He rolled his eyes a bit as he finished grating and took the pasta shells out of the boiling water. He threw some salt into the boil before taking a cup of it out and emptying the rest into the Adel house sink.

"Quite."

"So you do cook, hmm," she said nonchalantly, tapping the table in the kitchen. "I guess that makes sense, I can make some rice and fish but I'm not that good at other stuff." This raised his curiosity.

"What do you eat for breakfast?" she blinked at the question before humming.

"Ochre either makes it or I just boil half a dozen eggs, that's not really hard," he nodded as he poured the pasta, some heavy cream, cheese, butter, and milk, into a medium warm pot. "See, I couldn't Mac from scratch like that, box all the way."

"That's far more unhealthy," he shot back before Coco's smug tone reflected his words.

"Obi, honey, I look _good_ ," she emphasized the last word. "You may not see it but I've done my absolute best to the best damn looking thing in the room."

"Hm," he shrugged causing her bravado to deflate.

"I will never understand how different we are," she started, getting him to frown as he finished the food. "You're, like, the most mature person I've ever met outside of my sister and you're not even that much of a stuck up guy."

"I've had to mature far faster than most people, Coco, that's not something anyone should be envious of," Obito explained getting a curious look from the girl. "I'm basically an old man in a teenager's body."

"Hmm, you're not _that_ bad," she said catching his attention. "Yeah, you're more of an adult than most guys we know but you sort of look like, I don't know…"

"You _want_ to," she said getting the male brunette to freeze a bit as he stirred the pot some more.

"I don't…" he trailed off, the frown from earlier deepening. "It's a simple matter of, I can't, Coco. What I want is something that's too far beyond me at this point."

She frowned at that. "Aren't you making this complicated?" he looked back at her with one eye.

"I mean, if I think about it, I don't really think about what I'm doing in the big sense," she shrugged. "In two years, I'll be in Beacon and I don't think that's going to change much… Or, I'd think that if we didn't have our recent… situation."

Obito had to give what she said a second of attention before grimacing, she meant the incident at the manor.

"Have you found your answer, yet?" he asked as he shared out two plates of macaroni. "Or are you still looking?"

"Still, thanks," she took the offered food and utensils. "No, no answer, but like I was saying that whole situation sort of put me in a different place."

"Nowadays, it feels like I can only relate with our group," she said, moving the food around a bit. "I've been hanging with Velvet, I'm also thinking of taking her beret but that's for later, I've been hanging with her and I can't help but think we relate on a different level now."

Obito nodded as he ate.

"Weirder, I think I also feel that way with Tanjirou, Lizzy, and Inosuke, along with all you guys, the coppers," she bit into her food and blinked. "Damn, that's good. I feel like I understand you a bit more than usual."

"So you've noticed," Obito stated instead of asked. "Yes, for most of us, we've all likely gone through a situation like at the manor." She frowned.

"Ya know, Tanjirou always felt like a different person to me before but I see why now and he made his choice way earlier," she said getting a nod from Obito. "What did _you_ go through?" she eyed him.

"I know you're a lot stronger than us, by the way," she said as Obito shrugged.

"I'd be more worried if you were rejecting everything that happened but, yes, I'm hiding my strength, it's part of the reason why I can't do as you all do."

"Back to that, huh? You say that but why not?" she closed her eyes in thought as she sucked on her fork a bit. "You seem like you never had a childhood, why not start now."

"I-" she cut him off.

"Yes, yes, lost time but you still have the chance, just relax a bit, alright?" she asked as their gazes met. "Just, let loose a little, enjoy stuff like this more," she gestured to the entirety of the situation before blinking.

"Wait a minute, it's not raining?" she got up and opened the blinds in the kitchen, the light shining in as she looked at the lone sun parting the clouds. "Well… that's not too bad."

'It isn't,' he sighed mentally as the light shone on Coco just right, the purple bandage-like marks under her cheeks bringing him a round of nostalgia.

He felt like he was becoming a deplorable person little by little.

That was a worrying thought.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He looked him over, frowning as he failed to find the weak point.

"Greed, remind me, how had this young man taken you down?" he asked the homunculus as he removed a scalpel from the brute's chest, the entire diagonal scar now stitched up.

In an hour or so, that'd be gone.

"He, he, he, he, couldn't tell ya but it was amazin' all the same," the man in question said as he laid down on the surgery table. "How am I lookin' Doc?"

"That's the thing," the doctor said as he looked over the data. "I don't know, your skin becomes more impervious to damage of different types over time."

"You said he used a sword for the entirety of your battle, so how was he able to fell you with a single stroke?" the man overlooking Greed racked his brain for answers.

"I believe, arhhh, that I may have a couple of answers," came a call from Greed's left, catching the doctor's interest.

"Is that so Wrath? Please, do enlighten me."

"Of course, Dr. Watts," Bradley, Wrath, said as he flexed his new arm, the organic material still recovering from his loss. "The boy has a strong Dark affinity."

Arthur Watts stopped pulling off his gloves as he listened. "What does this have to do with anything… Wait," he narrowed his eyes.

"Did one of you fail to get away with all the Dark Stone Mist?" Bradley nodded. "He _consumed it?_ " Arthur asked, baffled by such a development.

"Yes, I believe so," the homunculus stated. "His power could only be such, that dragon-like visage is hard to miss."

Altogether, Arthur rounded on Bradley, eyes glowing a pale yellow as he pressed his hand against the older-looking man's forehead.

He strode through all the memories, each one more confusing than the last.

" _Children?_ " He looked offended. "My creations bested by non-magic users and _children_ at that?"

"You saw it, no?" Wrath asked, getting the scientist to nod slowly. "He did not die before I faced him again, the effects of Dark element on Aura users is supposed to be deadly but he's still alive."

"Yes… He is," Watts said as he studied the memories once more. "He's not a magic-user, not completely, at least. He has to have some sort of heritage like the ones on the island, diluted but potent, and his Dark element had to help in his resistance to your weaponry." Bradley nodded.

"What do we do about him?" Wrath asked only to be answered by Greed.

" _You_ do nothing! He's MINE!" the now frowning man said as he glared at the older-looking male. "I'm going to see what he can do when he's NOT on death's door! I'm giddy just thinking about it!"

"Oi, Quack!" came the call of a man that Arthur was at odds of becoming familiar with. "You done touching all these guys?!"

"Mr. Deidara," Arthur said in a harsh tone. "Do you mind? We're discussing subjects."

"Yeah yeah, your feelings, who's sleeping with who, it's whatever!" Deidara said as he strode further into the crazy man's lab, eying all the easily breakable equipment. "The Queen wants your help with something."

"Does she?" Arthur narrowed his eyes on the grinning blond, the man in some purple clothes, pants, and a sleeveless top, walking around barefoot. "Does it have to be you who brings me this news?"

"Sorry I look too much like a lady for ya," the blond with a combover shrugged with a mocking smirk. "This place is a sausage fest lest you like ugly or gods."

"I'll keep that in mind," Arthur muttered as he squeezed the bridge of his nose. "We'll talk later, so focus on recuperating, we have another temple to search in days' time." he said to the homunculi in the room.

Watching Arthur leave, Deidara turned to the two men on surgery tables.

"So, any info I can get on our mutual enemies?" Bradley let out a breath as he laid down fully on his gurney. "Oh come on, we're a team! Don't you know teamwork makes the dream work?"

"Fuck you and your teamwork!" shouted Greed as he crossed his arms with a grin. "I'm taking this target for myself."

"Hm?" Deidara smirked.

"Let me know so I can inform ya where he is," he said, getting a frown from Greed. "Listen, I'm really good information gathering, trust me."

Bradley rolled his eyes at the obvious ruse as he laid on his gurney.

"Oh yeah? Then tell us something interesting," the aggressive homunculus said with a raised brow at Deidara's grin.

"Sure!" he rubbed his hands together. "That's easy, how about the fact that there's a roaming magic-user somewhere on Sanus."

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _She was dreaming again, she thought._

 _She shrieked at the sound and vibrations of thunder around the home as she ran._

" _W-What's going o-on?!" she screamed as she stumbled, another vibration rocking the castle. "What's happening?!"_

" _Miss Otilline!" came the shout of Clarissa, the maid running forward, grabbing her hand, and dragging her elsewhere. "You must leave!"_

 _She allowed the maid to drag her away._

 _She couldn't do anything else, after all…_

 _There was some large beast shooting lightning from its mouth outside._

 _Its face was a mix of a baboon and lion as its mane of yell fur shook with each spark of lightning._

 _She was horrified at the visage as a snake waved around from its backside and shot black smoke at a building, the portion it hit melting._

 _She was scared, a Nue. It was a_ NUE!

 _What was a Nue doing here?! Worse yet, where were the rest?_

 _Where was the pack?!_

 _Nue were odd creatures, they didn't roam around in anything but packs with a larger leader._

 _This one was obscenely large, it had to be the leader, so where was its pack?_

 _She'd actually begun running when she heard a sound. A sound like shrieking metal and storms._

 _She dared to lo- it was staring at her._

 _Her mind blanked, its bulging red eyes pulsing as it caught her in its trap._

 _She heard lightning all around her, her breath was static and hurting her chest._

 _She hit the floor not a second later, her hands coming to her chest, as she convulsed._

 _Thunder scored in her chest cavity- No! No it didn't! This was all an illusion! Stop it! PLEASE!_

 _That sound came again, like a thunderstorm of metal, as she saw the bright light from the window._

 _Thunder boomed, lightning crackled, and the light engulfed her._

 _ **~NRK~**_

Coco shot up with a gasp, the rain a skittering backdrop to her hurried breaths.

She blinked the fog away from her eyes, the darkness of her room setting her skin on freezing as she looked around.

Obito was long gone, of course, he had left after sharing out some food for Ochre and cleaning the dishes.

Their talk had been mind-opening, to say the least, knowing more about him was nice as he'd been the one getting to know her beforehand.

So she'd gone to sleep this day happier than usual, so why was she having these terrifying dreams? She… she knew to not call them nightmares, for some reason, and so was confused.

She was a little sweaty but not enough to warrant a shower but was worried about falling asleep.

She reached for something on the nightstand by her bed, her Scroll, and retrieved the item.

She hesitated before opening it and going through Kingoggle, the best searching engine throughout the four kingdoms.

She tapped on her search bar and looked down the list, finding her interests peaked once more on the 'Huntsmen/Huntress retirees' one but stopped.

The image of that thing was still clear, as was the phantom pain of electricity in her chest, and she typed it in.

'Nue.'

What she got was old Mistralian folklore about such beast born from black clouds? That didn't sound right, sounded more like Grimm.

She frowned as she looked through all the info.

She looked into specific locations, possible appearances, old interviews, and the like.

"?" she blinked as she looked at one specific video. "What's this?"

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **That finishes off chapter 17!**_

 _ **We get more information on Coco's situation as things are thrown in motion, past plans are ended or so we think. Coco opens up Obito a bit more, the reincarnated war monster isn't sure where he's going with Coco and he's actually more open to it than he should.**_

 _ **Obito's childhoods have always had too many overarching obstacles, obviously, to be normal. The Third Shinobi War in the Elemental Nations and Kojiro in Remnant, where his father groomed him for battle and Obito growing up in a tribe of plunderers and murderers.**_

 _ **Obito Uchiha is a man trapped in time, which is rather fitting as he's the holder of a powerful space-time technique.**_

 _ **Words in Chapter: 7.7k+**_

 _ **~NRK Out~**_


	19. Transition Note

_**So, in lieu of the fact that I've received reviews about the rampant character use, I'm gonna have to ask:**_

 _ **So do people really want me to just make OCs in these cases? Or is it the fact that these appropriated characters are getting used at all? I have to ask because I, more often than not, see people despise OCs. It's one of the reasons why I use chars from different anime, they're easy to remember.**_

 _ **I'd like to add, RWBY literally does the bare minimum to flesh out its world and that's one of the problems with the show. We know Junior has a gang, is he the only one? Are there more? Mistral has an underground, why not Vale? Do the other kingdoms have one?**_

 _ **It's questions like these that RWBY doesn't try to flesh out, it's one of the reasons why people like Naruto and One Piece so much. Their worlds feel like there are strong people everywhere and not just from one place or a concentrated subset of the populace. RWBY barely has enough 'strong' characters to form a decent defense against an actually competently written villain team that Team WTCH really should have been throughout all the volumes.**_

 _ **But, we get Hazel's weak backstory and getting beaten in his**_ **first appearance on the battlefield as one of Salem's inner circle.** _ **Watts worked out better than expected… until you realize they only made him the tech guy without pushing that narrative. The dude took over the Atlesian Military robot army and you're telling me he doesn't have his own robots to fight people with?**_

 _ **Ignoring that, perhaps I was going about this all wrong, I can only suspect. Strange enough, to me, I see people complaining about other powers? Somehow I'm unsure of what they mean by that, we're dealing with magic after all. Though, I've done some thinking and some second drafting for this story.**_

 _ **I think having such a complicated extra magic system in RWBY of all places is the problem here, along with the multi-anime use even though.**_

 _ **I need to stick to my guns here, I'm branching out too much in a crossover fic, I guess. Too much ambition in my case and not making the story concise enough that it's easier to understand.**_

 _ **Maybe I was being stubborn with those earlier reviews, mind you, I do believe they were rather rude in execution but the genuine nature was in them was to help.**_

 _ **So, with that, I'm going to rewrite a big part of this story's main plot to make it both more digestible and still an expansive concept on RWBY's ideas as a whole. That's part of the reason I wrote this fic, that and there being a miniscule amount of Obito Crossover fics.**_

 _ **Though, I'm keeping the Phoenix Wright chars, they're to be used to help make good use of Obito's police career. Because, once again, we got no notable civilian chars even though we haven't seen a lick of the actual council from anywhere but one place. And even then, we don't see them doing jack all.**_

 _ **~NRK~**_

He held his arms out, the two rotating shapes shot out but dispersed two meters away from his person.

He frowned as he failed to understand why he couldn't get them to go the distance.

"Hmm," Tanjirou hummed on his left as he noted the problem. "I'm unsure, Obito, this seems more like a limit than a problem."

"Gonna agree with Burns here, Obi," Coco said as she looked at the space where the stakes had disappeared. "They disappeared like dust, just 'poof'."

Obito frowned, the current group back in their workout clothes, as he held his hand up and a stake appeared.

"Weren't we working on swordsmanship, Tanjirou?" came Zenitsu's whiny cry before he yelped at Inosuke's swing. "Oi! PIGGY! Back off!"

"Kuahahahahah!" Inosuke laughed as he chased the yelling blonde.

Obito had been seeing the versatility of this new skill of his, seeing if his chains from his past life could be created on the fly but the problem of range was irritating.

Unlimited chain length wasn't the goal but less than two meters wasn't any good either.

"Don't ignore me you bastard!"

Was he missing something? Perhaps another letter? Another Rune? Should he add another Rune to HPhK?

He brought his enchantment into existence, the sword's details closer to the original.

Yes, the more he cast, the more detailed it got.

He was still unaware of what that meant, though.

He turned to Tanjirou. "I believe I've held off on our lesson for long enough, apologies." The other male smiled.

"Hm," he said as he, Obito, and Coco, moved away from Zenitsu's match with Inosuke.

"I can assume you've looked up enough lectures, videos, and the like, on the art, yes?" Tanjirou asked, completely for appearance's sake.

"Of course," Obito nodded as he and Tanjirou took stance.

"This match between Burns and Obi…" Coco stood away and between the two, arm raised.

"Begin!" It dropped.

Their eyes went wide as they dashed at one another, swords brought forth to clash between them.

The energy sword pinged not unlike a regular one as the two teens slid their weapons across one another before swinging for another clash.

Obito stepped back, the weight of the swords coming in his direction, before twirling around their locked blades.

Tanjirou stumbled forward before stomping his foot forward and leaning back from Obito's retaliatory roundhouse kick. The boy with the burn mark pressed a hand against the floor, flipped over Obito's follow up slice, and planted his blade in the arena floor.

Obito rushed him, the trail of dark wisps behind his blade a mark of where he was as he blurred within Tanjirou's range, the other boy kicking out with his hand on his sword's handle as support.

"Whoa!" Obito's foot knocked Tanjirou's blade from its stuck position. "Grk!" he twisted.

He took a sharp breath.

Obito was the one to lean back this time as Tanjirou got one foot on the floor.

That lone foothold was all the ginger-haired boy needed to turn his drop into a twisting attack.

Obito's dodge out of the twister-like move didn't make him let up, though, he watched Tanjirou right himself mid-air and bring the blade down.

Obito twisted to the side, the blade biting into the floor, before crossing his arms as Tanjirou reenacted his earlier move, sending the police officer sliding away.

The brunette's feet skid to a halt, eyes focused on Tanjirou's movement.

"YEERRRGGG!" Obito's eyes widened as he flipped back and away from Inosuke's mad charge. "Yesh!" he followed after Obito.

"Ha, ha," Zenitsu came to a stop near Tanjirou who was laughing nervously at Inosuke's intervention. "He's… All yours! Ha… ha…"

The two swordsmen watched Inosuke chase after Obito for a bit before Tanjirou shrugged.

He lunged into the fray.

 _ **~NRK~**_

The following day, he was back with Team 7, Marrone filling him in on what happened the other day.

"I'm tellin' ya, it was crazy!" the male Faunus said as they moved throughout the precinct. "Guy comes through like 'I'M THE BROTHER!' and I'm like 'Dude! Calm down!' and then Ochre's all 'BLEARGGHH! Where Iruka?'"

"You realize she's going to kill you, right?" Obito shot his fellow cop a raised eyebrow. "I'd be careful, I hear you don't have nine lives."

"Yuck it up, Midoriya, I don't see a lick of green on you."

"Adopted."

"That doe- Whoa there!" they continued for a bit before dodging out the way of a Detective Gordon. "Watch it!" Both Liza and Marrone winced as the detective tripped.

All for naught, thankfully, as Obito was in front of the man instantly, supporting the large stack of folders on the other side.

"H-Hah?" the orange-haired man peeked around his papers before shooting Obito a relieved smile. "Thanks, officer Midoriya."

"It's no problem, Detective Gordon," Obito responded as he slowly separated the stack and turned to his Faunus teammates. "Go on ahead, I'll catch up."

"Alright, please be more careful Mr. Gordon," Liza said with a wave that Gordon returned with a nod.

"Same, I hope you lot have a lot less excitement in the future," the trio could nod to that.

* * *

"Hah," James Gordon sighed as he placed the papers down and stretched. "Thank you, lad, this old body of mine doesn't hold up like it used to."

"No proble-hmm?" Obito began to say as he looked at one of the folders. "That's a lot of folders though, Detective Gord-"

"Come on, Midoriya, you can at least call me Gordon, saying my name like that must be a mouthful," Gordon said as he eased himself into his chair.

Obito thought it over before nodding. "Very well, Gordon, I'm simply curious. What's your current case?"

"Hmm? Ah, yes, _this case,_ " the detective hummed as he picked up one of the folders. "A young man contacted me to look into some gang activity around his area."

Obito's eyes narrowed as he opened one of the folders and looked through the information. "A missing brother?" he asked getting a nod from the detective.

"Yes, though I'm having a hard time putting together this one," the older man said as he passed Obito a file.

The reincarnated ninja looked at it, eyes running through the information. "The brother was the leader? What is this-"

He stared at the name, frowning as he read it over. "Med Corpse." Gordon nodded.

"Turns out that the younger brother was a sort of doctor for gang members, from what the older said they used to be in one until the younger became a doctor and they moved up in life."

Obito continued as he read through the file. "The younger felt responsible for some of his former fellows and created his own medical gang in the ruined downtown," the teen cupped his chin.

"Yep! Though that's where the problems start, it turns out that Med Corpse had been taken over by some other gang and his brother hasn't been around at all."

Obito remembered what the twins had told him about the gangs being taken over but…

Where were the members then?

 _ **~NRK~**_

Junior sat in his backroom as another of his men asked to be pulled out of the Red Axe Gang.

"What the hell?" he asked the air as he looked over these guys' portfolios.

These schmoes had been taken and something had happened to them.

* * *

" _Boss, as someone who respects you the most, please consider moving the gang's hideout."_

* * *

The hell had that been about? Move? What the hell happened to them?

He gathered up the files and placed them away.

He'd seen all his missing guys but he had to wonder where the hell the other gang members were.

He knew all the gangs that got removed but he'd neither hide nor hair of any of them. Did they join IronSights? Did they run?

Shit, he needed Red-Eye to go snoopin'.

He left the backroom and moved into his club proper.

It was early in the day, his guys were moving around cleaning up from the night before.

He moved to the bar, made himself a drink, and flagged down one of the guys.

When the thug came over, Junior gave him his orders.

"I need you to go and bring me one of the guys who came back, most of 'em should be at their homes," the Bear pulled a small piece of paper from his vest's pocket.

"I need to talk to 'em, mano e mano, about what the hell is happening."

 _ **~NRK~**_

Team 7, sans Ochre, moved down the streets of Vale at a casual pace.

"So who's got their bike license?" Marrone asked as the trio patrolled. "I know I don't."

"I do," Liza said as she looked about. "I wanted to be sure I could do everything I could to be ready for all occasions."

"I'm the same," Obito added, getting Marrone to whine.

"That's not fair, dammit," the male Faunus pouted at them. "Great, now I gotta get one, you guys are a bad influence on me."

"Really?" Liza shot him an amused looked. " _We_ are a bad influence?"

"Misery loves company, Liza," Obito said with a small smirk. "Misery is also Marrone's middle name."

"Oh, HA, HA, I'm hungry. Treat me, peons."

"Barbeque?" Marrone perked up as Obito pointed to a nearby store. "Mistralian specialty shop."

"Well~ If you're going to be so kind," Marrone walked like he was on cloud nine.

Obito rolled his eyes as they went into the shop and passed an exiting customer.

Obito's eyes met his and his eyes widened.

* * *

" _This is the man?" Obito asked as he looked at the picture._

" _Yeah, that's his brother, Thad Gin."_

 _Said young man was barely into his twenties, with a brown wolf's tail hairstyle with shaved sides. He had blue eyes, light brown skin, and a pair of moles under his eyes._

* * *

He nodded to the man, eyes normal as he apologized for almost bumping into him.

Red eyes met blue for a millisecond before Obito turned back to his team.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He waited inside the abandoned cake shop, his cigar sparked and lit as he took a long drag.

"The things I do for you, Neo," Roman breathed out, smoke shooting towards the floor. "Wherever the hell my employer is, they need to hurry the hell up."

"I'm glad to see you in high spirits, Monsieur Roman Torchwick," the master thief clicked his teeth as he ground the cigar out into his palm.

Thank you, Aura.

Out of the back of the cake shop came a floating orb robot?

He blinked as the thing glided over in its large purple cloak, the head looked up at him with its big glowing 'eye'.

"Now, who're you?" Roman asked, smirk plastered on, as he did his best to not show whoever this was how confused Roman was. "Hello, tin can, was it you or your mommy who asked me to do some shopping?"

"Apologies, I was in the middle of something," it said as a light shot out of its head to the floor.

Roman jumped back the moment it did and his cane was now twirling in his hand. "Might want to try warning a guy."

"Yes, yes, I apologize," it said but the thief's eyes narrowed at its humorous tone. "You see, I'm simply making sure things are genuine."

"Now, please place the item in the light. I'm going to appraise its authenticity," Roman frowned as he pulled a bag from behind the counter.

Reaching in, he pulled the old scarf out before placing it in the light as asked.

The light intensified, the light turning from a light blue to a dark one.

Roman blinked as lights appeared over the cloth, no, not lights, _symbols_ on the cloth glowed a brighter blue in contrast to the dark blue shining down on them.

"Hm, hm, hm, yes, this is the real thing," it said and the light show stopped. Roman's hand snatched the cloth up the moment it did and sneered at the little trashcan.

"… Where's the serum, antidote, whatever," the thief held his hand out. " _Gimme_."

The robot sighed as a slot opened up on its front.

"If you would, please tell your comrade to come out," it said, getting a tense-looking smile from Torchwick.

There was a crack of glass as a tiny woman appeared behind the thief, eyes wide as she looked at the small robot.

"Come forth, madam, I'd like to make this transaction as efficient as possible."

Roman stalked forward with Neo in tow, hand resting on her shoulder as he kneeled.

"Make it quick, Neo," he said, getting a timid nod from the vertically-challenged female.

"Stomach please," it asked, getting a shaky lift of the coat.

A slow red light came out and connected with Neo.

Roman tightened his grasp on his knee as Neo's Aura glowed. His eyes widened as the Aura spread out into a sphere of pink.

He was shocked once more as a large shadow-like skull appeared on the side of the sphere.

"Hmm," the robot hummed as the red light connected to the skull and the dark omen icon dissipated.

The light show stopped altogether as it did and Neo held a hand to her head, shaking it slightly, as she blinked.

Roman took a slow breath. "Neo…" he said, the woman turning to look him in the eye.

She grimaced as she nodded to him and he sighed in relief.

He tossed the old relic to the robot and pulled Neo towards him in an instant.

"Let's leave," he said and Neo nodded as the two disappeared into the night, bursting through the door and disappearing behind a building in the distance.

"Hmph," he took the cloth and it disappeared in a flash of green light.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He waited by the place where he'd first met Dalia, his personal cloak on along with his orange mask.

'Someone was here,' he noted, the floor riddled with footprints, big and small.

Perhaps it was Dalia's group getting more followers again, he didn't know.

The sound of steps pervaded the empty cake shop and Obito turned to see a familiar blue-eyed man with a mystified look about him.

"Hmph," Obito grunted as he turned to the young adult. "Release." Hands came up into a familiar handsign.

The man's foggy gaze dispelled and he blinked.

"W-Wuh? No, not again!" he shouted as he looked around before his gaze landed on Obito.

He froze as Obito's Sharingan spun, the cloaked man's gaze following the young man's the whole way.

"Thad Gin," Obito spoke with his Madara Voice on. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

"W-What?" Thad swallowed, nervously shifting his foot around. "Wh-Why? You guys said I could leave!"

Obito raised a brow at that. "I'm unsure of who you're talking about." Thad blinked.

"Y-You're not?" he breathed out a slow sigh. "H-How do I-"

"Listen," Obito raised a hand to silence him. "I'm not here for that, I'm here to find out where you've been." The tan-skinned man blinked.

"Huh?"

"You've gone missing for a while, Thad," Obito said. "Your brother has been looking for you."

"I-I… I was taken," Thad said with a drop of the head. "I couldn't…" Obito shrugged.

"Be that as it may, go and make sure he knows you're alright," Thad blinked at him.

"W-Was… Was that it?"

"I do need to know what happened to the other gangs that got absorbed by IronSights."

"… They were let go of or joined them," Thad admitted with a sigh. "IronSights had been dealing with us for a while but then they decided to 'take' instead of 'deal'."

"I was taken somewhere underground and they… I don't know what they did," Thad winced in thought. "I was in a lot of pain, it felt like hours, but then… then they told me _things_."

"Hm?" Obito's eyes narrowed. "What did they say?"

"They said… I was now a part of a whole and that I was now awake," Thad said with a confused look.

Obito slowly nodded.

"Go home, Thad," he said as he walked away.

He rounded a corner before running to an alleyway and leaping from wall to wall to a roof.

He wasn't surprised to see Thad looking for him so he took off before the man looked up.

He knew that Orichalcum wanted to awaken the world to magic.

But why take over these gangs? It was more like enlarging their forces than anything else and this was before the attack.

He landed on a roof overlooking all the traffic down below.

They wanted there to be an end to false magic users.

They'd overtaken gangs and released their members while holding onto the ones with potential.

They unleashed said potential and let them go out into the populace…!

He was shocked to only have figured this out just now.

They weren't just adding magic users to their group.

They were adding them to _Remnant_.

They released people with the ability to use magic so those people could possibly have _children_.

A slow process plan, it was actually ingenious.

Make more magic users _naturally_ and you have an easy backup plan in case any more immediate ones fail.

So the question was, how long had this been in the making?

How many were out there now?

 _ **~NRK~**_

He grunted as he walked up the steps to the home, eyebrows raised at the modest home.

Who the hell on their dime could afford such a place?

He got his answer when the door was answered by an old coot, the grandma blinking up at him before looking at his suit.

"Are you looking for my grandson?" the thug scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, Alfred here? The bo- I mean, our boss wants to talk to him but he couldn't reach his Scroll."

She nodded, a hand waving him in as she went back inside her home.

"Shoes at the door please," she said to which the thug shrugged and did as asked.

"Alfred!" she shouted, though the sound could barely count as such. "Come downstairs! Your co-worker is here!"

The Axe Gang member took a seat, declined the old woman's offered water, and waited.

The sound of steps alerted him to their gang member and he turned to the stairs to see him-

"Weren't you bald?" he had to ask.

"… Grandma, we'll be upstairs," Alfred gestured to the thug to follow and he did.

Upstairs, in the other man's room, the thug grunted.

"Boss wants to talk to ya," he said, sitting backward in a rotating chair. "He didn't say 'bout what but I can only imagine it's ta do with the IronShits."

"… Raph," Alfred began, running a hand through his hair. "I… I don't want to be in the gang shit anymore."

"What?" Raph, the thug, stared at Alfred like he was crazy. "What did they do to you? They strong-arm you? Bribe you? You know the bos-"

"It has nothing to do with that!" Alfred interrupted him with a shout. "Raph, I don't _want_ to be some thug!"

"Al what are yo-"

"Do you remember when we joined?" Alfred asked, getting an unsure nod from Raph. "We thought we were tough. We _thought_ we were big shit," he held his hands out to the room.

"Look at me," Raph eyes turned away. "Not only did we get our asses kicked by a pair of _teenagers_ -"

"Who have Aura…" Raph interjected and grimaced at Alfred's glare.

"We now live under Junior's, miraculously, merciful thumb. I still live at my grandma's house, _I don't like living like this!_ "

Raph's glasses fell slightly revealing his black eyes. "What are you tryin' to say?"

"…" Alfred looked down in thought. "I have some family in Mistral, ya know? I'm thinking… Maybe I should call it quits and actually go back to school. Ya know? Start a whole new life in a different place."

" _Mistral_? Really?" Raph looked annoyed. "Dude, we supposed to be top dogs!"

"And are we?!" Alfred shot back. " _Think._ What do you expect to do under Junior's thumb? Become his right-hand man? Sorry, that's the twins' job. There's nothing there for me OR you," the male said with a tired sigh.

"I want to be something better than _this_ , to make good money that won't disappear out my hand the second someone gets suspicious."

"I want to have a damn family," Raph's mouth dropped.

The thug stared at him for a moment before cursing.

'He's never cared about shit like that! What the hell happened to him?!'

 _ **~NRK~**_

"Nora?" he asked as he looked up from his paper scroll. "Is something wrong?"

"…" she didn't say anything.

An orange-haired girl stood in the doorway of their makeshift room as he looked over the assortment of scrolls Zero had given them.

"Ren, I don't know about this," Nora said, her blue eyes looking around them in confusion. "I'm worried, Ren."

Ren, a young teen of 14 years of age, sighed as he rolled up the parchment in his lap.

He stood as his long black hair with a lone pink bang flapping with the motion.

Pink eyes locked onto blue, filled with determination.

"I know but… I have to do this," he explained as he rubbed his eyes.

How long had he been reading these things? He didn't know, Zero had said reading the scrolls would open his mind to different possibilities.

And she'd been right! He never felt so mentally capable before! He felt eager to learn more of Zero's words and teachings. So he could be strong.

So he could protect Nora.

So he could never face a tragedy again while being powerless!

Nora sighed. "I know, I know, you're special Renny…"

"Just… don't forget 'us', alright?" his gaze softened.

Zero had tried to see about Nora's 'affinity for the artes' as it were but said she, Zero, was lacking. Something about making it so Nora could find the teachers with her sort of capabilities.

"We'll make it through this together, alright?" he said.

She smiled at him.

"Yeah, like always."

 _ **~NRK~**_

It'd been close to a week since he met him and Jaune found himself currently looking on as Obito's lesson.

He watched the live feed of Obito and Tanjirou fighting.

Having been introduced, Jaune noted that Tanjirou was an incredibly kind guy.

He made sure to listen to Obito's in-between lessons as the two disengaged, Obito had used that word, time and time again.

He nodded to Obito's next question, flipping through the notes on his table before scanning them and sending them across the network.

" _I see,"_ Obito said as he looked them over with a nod. _"You're learning but remember, too much at one time can be just as detrimental as overly focusing on one."_

Jaune nodded as he circled two forms.

This continued on for another hour or so with Tanjirou and Obito taking turns on imparting lessons to the younger teen.

There was a knock on his door and Jaune muted his Scroll as he shouted.

"Come in!" he sat up with a tilt of the head.

"Honey?" his mother peeked in, bright blues that mirrored Jaune's own looked around his room in surprise. "Hmm, it's clean."

Jaune blushed at that, no doubt Obito and Tanjirou were listening in.

The two had taken to giving the blonde life lessons along with swordplay. 'Cleanliness is next to brotherliness' was a saying Jaune never put much thought into.

Tanjirou's 'A clear mind is aided by a clean space' made more sense to the young man. Obito had touted that doing small things every day would make Jaune feel more accomplished to work on his confidence.

Jaune had to wonder if his dad's saying meant this kind of confidence.

"We'll be having lunch soon, so make sure to clean up." He nodded at her.

The second she left, he turned the volume on his Scroll up.

" _We'll stop here for today, Jaune,"_ Tanjirou said with a nod. _"It's good to make sure you spend time with your family."_

" _We'll pick this up on Saturday?"_ Obito turned to Tanjirou who nodded.

" _I'll bring Zenitsu along."_

" _Then I'll bring, Inosuke, make sure you keep up his exercises, Jaune. God knows what that wild child will do if he sees no progress."_

Jaune had to chuckle at that.

Inosuke was a rather intuitive teacher. He looked at what Jaune did wrong and could pick it out immediately, at least, when it came to flexibility.

"I'll talk to you later, Obito, Tanjirou."

They responded in kind.

He ended the call.

 _ **~NRK~**_

"How's the case going, Detective Gordon?"

"Actually well, kid, it turns out Thad turned up."

Obito nodded, his involvement obviously irrelevant to the situation.

The younger male had come into the department early, waiting for his team, and had come into contact with the detective once more.

"That's one down and just leaves me with a couple more," James said as he put one folder down on the desk between them.

Obito picked it up, thumbing through the files and blinked.

"Yeah, ya know those cases you lot had been going on? The ones with all the domestic abuse?" James asked. "That wasn't a 'you only' thing, that's been something all the other stations have a team dealing with." He pulled out a folded map and unfolded it in front of Obito.

"I believe that they are connected," he pointed to points on the map, each one marked by a red dot. "Each of them has been so spread out in the beginning but I think I have something."

There were dots all around the city, though, where was the connection?

"Look at this," he brought out an old ma-!

Obito's eyes widened as he looked at the train system.

"The person who's doing all this is going underground in the old train system," James stated as the two of them looked it over.

He gestured to the brunette to follow and they traversed the station before ending up in a room with an old-style projector.

He placed the original map down on the glass, the light above it shining down and throwing the image against the wall.

Obito watched it all fall into place as the train system was placed down.

Perfect matches or, rather, matches of areas of interest.

"I'm going to be putting in for some of the other officers to come along incognito," James started as he looked at the younger male.

"And I think I'm going to choose Team 7 in this one," Obito stared back impassively.

"Can I assume there's a good reason?" James nodded.

"Understand that this is no racist comment but you're on a team with two Faunus," James began, Obito nodding along in understanding. "We don't exactly have a lot of Faunus in the force so having them down there will make any form of darkness easier to deal with."

Obito nodded as the detective continued. "Plus, you and Celeste have Aura. I've heard you're getting some training."

Obito understood.

"You want all of us, that's why you want Team 7," Gordon nodded. "You're expecting something to happen."

"It's better to be safe than sorry. I'm going to ask Ochre when she comes in," James said as the two of them left the room.

"If anything, I'm going to push for it a little more than usual," Obito nodded as the two of them walked back to the entrance.

"Obi, my man," Marrone raised a hand in greeting as he and Liza entered at the same time. "Leave it to you to be an early riser."

"I try to do so," Obito said as he looked around. "Where's Ochre?"

Liza smiled a bit.

"Talking to-"

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" came the voice of Iruka as he entered along with a stiff-looking Ochre.

James looked beyond amused as the woman noticed him and shot him a glare.

"I said I was _fine_ , Iruka," Ochre stressed as she did her best to not look at him.

"Very well," he said with a smile and a nod as he looked over Team 7 and the detective. "Ah, good to see you all are well."

He nodded to them each before his eyes landed on Obito.

Their eyes met and Obito slowly nodded.

He could see the recognition within Iruka's eyes, the way his smile tensed a bit, and how hard Obito could see Iruka doing his best to not change expression.

He had left the idea of talking to Iruka on the backburner in light of literally everything else being more important.

He'd need to clear the waters with Iruka so the two of them could learn if they needed to be wary of each other.

"Seeing as you all are here," James spoke up, catching the group's attention. "I actually wanted to talk to you all about those cases you had a series of."

Well, that was convenient.

 _ **~NRK~**_

She saw the text from Obito, the recipient being their entire group, and the details below.

"Train system?" Coco blinked. "There's a train in Vale?"

She said this out loud, catching the attention of Velvet, the Faunus girl was who Coco had been hanging with today.

"Is someth- Oh?" Velvet began to say before her Scroll dinged and she pulled it out. "I see."

"Ya huh," Coco agreed as she looked down on their homework.

Coco wasn't considered the best of the best at schoolwork but she was definitely above average...

She could only assume their assignments were that easy as she overlooked the Faunus's essay.

"Yeah, you might wanna work on your conclusion," Coco said with a nod that Velvet frowned at. "Oh, don't be like that, here let me help ya."

Helping the cute Faunus, Coco's mind wandered.

She'd have to plan for the trip.

An underground location was bound to be a thriving ground for Creepers maybe.

Possibly spirits she could make us-

She frowned as she pointed out another issue with Velvet's conclusion.

What had she been about to say?

She winced a bit, a slight spike of pain in her head.

She ignored the worried look Velvet shot her as she excused herself to the bathroom.

She breathed and blinked into the mirror.

Nothing unusual, her silver eyes…

Her brown eyes staring back at an inquisitive face.

She reached for the medicine cabinet before frowning.

She went back to Velvet.

Weird.

 _ **~NRK~**_

He danced again, the action a repeating one that he'd done for the past couple of weeks.

He didn't feel anything though! In fact, he felt AMAZING!

He didn't remember the last time he'd eaten. Hours? Days? Was it weeks?

Months? He didn't remember, all he knew was that he could dance forever!

He grinned, the curving vines spinning like a spool of thread as he spun.

They jutted out when he posed.

They wiggled when he shimmied.

This was who he was.

O great vines! Dance with him!

The image of a man moved about the passing tracks, each of his steps riddling the floor with foliage and leaves.

He was a mix of greens in color with plant life spilling out of his body at random parts but always in ways that didn't impede his movement.

He cackled as he bowed to the World. It gave to him and so he gave back.

The being's shadow couldn't even be called a human shape as its long decrepit, skeletal, form shifted about.

And so he continued his dance, his home these old pathways.

An underground forest.

He loved it.

 _ **~NRK~**_

 _ **You've seen the AN at the top so there's not much to say here.**_

 _ **I want to tighten up the story, too much is going on here and I've realized that maybe people wouldn't be as offended by OCs as I originally thought.**_

 _ **I've already written out an outline up to the mansion attack so it's not like I've done nothing but sit on my hands, either.**_

 _ **Words: 5.8k+**_


	20. Discontinued

_**~NRK~**_

The new story is up, I hope once the new direction kicks in, you guys stick around.

See ya. Dark Silver is officially canceled.

 _ **~NRK~**_


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